fallenvsfüllenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#968
“fallen” frequency rank
#5,171
“füllen” frequency rank
6139
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fallen füllen
Definition sich unkontrolliert von oben nach unten bewegen (durch die Gravitation) einen Behälter voll machen, eine Aushöhlung stopfen

Where the eye mixes fallen and füllen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
fallen
6 ch
füllen

Look-alike desk: fallen vs füllen

A purely visual mix-up. fallen ([ˈfalən]) and füllen ([ˈfʏlən]) 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 - a in “fallen” becomes ü in “füllen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fallen is recorded at frequency rank #968, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfalən]. füllen is at rank #5,171, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʏlən].

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 6139, this pair ranks #1,992,589 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fallen vs füllen

Shared letters: efln. Private to "fallen": a. Private to "füllen": ü.

"fallen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "füllen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fallenafllen · faleln · falen · fallenn · fallne · ffallen · flalen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fallen" and "füllen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfalən] versus [ˈfʏlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fallen" or "füllen"?
"fallen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #968 in our German list, against #5,171 for "füllen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "füllen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,992,589 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fallen" and "füllen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fügten vs füllen". 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 #1,992,589 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