fallen vs fatalen, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“fallen” is a verb and “fatalen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#968
“fallen” frequency rank: #37,512
“fatalen” frequency rank: 38480
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	fallen	fatalen
Definition	sich unkontrolliert von oben nach unten bewegen (durch die Gravitation)	Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fatal

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch

fallen

7 ch

fatalen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fallen is [ˈfalən] while fatalen is [faˈtaːlən]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38480, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fallen is recorded at frequency rank #968, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfalən]. fatalen is at rank #37,512, tagged as anadj, pronounced [faˈtaːlən].

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 38480, this pair ranks #1,562,862 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fallen vs fatalen

Shared letters: aefln. Private to "fallen": -. Private to "fatalen": t.

"fallen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "fatalen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

fallen ← afllen · faleln · falen · fallenn · fallne · ffallen · flalen
fatalen ← aftalen · faatlen · fataeln · fatalenn · fatallen · fatalne · fatlaen · fattalen

Frequency comparison

fallen#968

fatalen#37,512

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fallen" and "fatalen" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fallen" is a verb and "fatalen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "fallen" or "fatalen"?

"fallen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #968 in our German list, against #37,512 for "fatalen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering fallen vs fatalen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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