Which to use
“fallen” is a verb and “falls” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #968
- “fallen” frequency rank
- #698
- “falls” frequency rank
- 1666
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fallen | falls |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich unkontrolliert von oben nach unten bewegen (durch die Gravitation) | für den Fall, dass …; unter der Bedingung, dass … |
Where the eye mixes fallen and falls
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fallen vs falls
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fallen is [ˈfalən] while falls is [fals]. 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 (verb vs conjunction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1666, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fallen is recorded at frequency rank #968, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfalən]. falls is at rank #698, tagged as aconj, pronounced [fals].
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 1666, this pair ranks #2,003,938 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fallen vs falls
Shared letters: afl. Private to "fallen": en. Private to "falls": s.
"fallen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "falls" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fallen" for "falls" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "fallen" or "falls" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fallen" and "falls" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fallen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "falls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,003,938 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fallen" and "falls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "falls vs fils". 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 #2,003,938 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.