Which to use
“fallen” and “falten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #968
- “fallen” frequency rank
- #10,852
- “falten” frequency rank
- 11820
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fallen | falten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich unkontrolliert von oben nach unten bewegen (durch die Gravitation) | umbiegen und zusammenlegen |
Where the eye mixes fallen and falten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fallen and falten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: fallen vs falten
A purely visual mix-up. fallen ([ˈfalən]) and falten ([ˈfaltn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - l in “fallen” becomes t in “falten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fallen is recorded at frequency rank #968, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfalən]. falten is at rank #10,852, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfaltn̩].
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 11820, this pair ranks #1,967,720 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fallen vs falten
Shared letters: aefln. Private to "fallen": -. Private to "falten": t.
"fallen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "falten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fallen" and "falten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fallen" vs "falten" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fallen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "falten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,967,720 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fallen" and "falten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "falten vs fügten". 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 #1,967,720 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.