FalkevsfolieTell them apart

Which to use

“Falke” and “folie” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,569
“Falke” frequency rank
#13,826
“folie” frequency rank
33395
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Falke folie
Definition mittelgroßer, zum Teil auch kleiner Raubvogel aus der Familie der Falkenartigen Irrsinn, Tollheit, Verrücktheit, Wahnsinn, Wahnwitz

Where the eye mixes Falke and folie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Falke
5 ch
folie

Visual trap between Falke and folie

A purely visual mix-up. Falke ([ˈfalkə]) and folie ([fɔ.li]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Falke is recorded at frequency rank #19,569, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfalkə]. folie is at rank #13,826, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fɔ.li].

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 33395, this pair ranks #1,686,863 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Falke vs folie

Shared letters: efl. Private to "Falke": ak. Private to "folie": io.

"Falke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "folie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Falkeaflke · fakle · falek · falkke · fallke · ffalke · flake
  • folieffolie · floie · foile · folei · follie · oflie

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Falke" for "folie" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfalkə] versus [fɔ.li]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Falke" or "folie"?
"folie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,826 in our German list, against #19,569 for "Falke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Falke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "folie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,686,863 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Falke" and "folie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Falke vs Felge". 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 #1,686,863 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list