FährtevsführtenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Fährte is a noun, führten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Fährte” is a noun and “führten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,594
“Fährte” frequency rank
#3,733
“führten” frequency rank
37327
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fährte führten
Definition Fußabdrücke (eines Tieres) auf dem Boden 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs führen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Fährte and führten apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Fährte
7 ch
führten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fährte is [ˈfɛːɐ̯tə] while führten is [ˈfyːɐ̯tn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37327, 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]. führten is at rank #3,733, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfyːɐ̯tn̩].

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 37327, this pair ranks #1,593,089 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Fährte vs führten

Shared letters: efhrt. Private to "Fährte": ä. Private to "führten": .

"Fährte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "führten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Frequency comparison

Fährte#33,594
führten#3,733

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Fährte" and "führten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fährte" is a noun and "führten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Fährte" or "führten"?
"führten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,733 in our German list, against #33,594 for "Fährte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Fährte vs führten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Fährte”; for a verb, it's “führten”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Fährte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list