Which to use
“Fährte” is a noun and “fehlte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,594
- “Fährte” frequency rank
- #5,362
- “fehlte” frequency rank
- 38956
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Fährte | fehlte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fußabdrücke (eines Tieres) auf dem Boden | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fehlen |
Where the eye mixes Fährte and fehlte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Fährte and fehlte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: Fährte vs fehlte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fährte is [ˈfɛːɐ̯tə] while fehlte is [ˈfeːltə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Fährte is recorded at frequency rank #33,594, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛːɐ̯tə]. fehlte is at rank #5,362, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfeːltə].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 38956, this pair ranks #1,550,093 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Fährte vs fehlte
Shared letters: efht. Private to "Fährte": rä. Private to "fehlte": l.
"Fährte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "fehlte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fehlte ← efhlte · fehhlte · fehlet · fehllte · fehltte · fehtle · felhte · ffehlte
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Fährte" and "fehlte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "Fährte" or "fehlte"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Fährte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fehlte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,550,093 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Fährte" and "fehlte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fährte vs Falte". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,550,093 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.