fallenvsfülltenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#968
“fallen” frequency rank
#32,541
“füllten” frequency rank
33509
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fallen füllten
Definition sich unkontrolliert von oben nach unten bewegen (durch die Gravitation) 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs füllen

Where the eye mixes fallen and füllten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fallen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against füllten's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
fallen
7 ch
füllten

Visual trap between fallen and füllten

A purely visual mix-up. fallen ([ˈfalən]) and füllten ([ˈfʏltn̩]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33509, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fallen is recorded at frequency rank #968, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfalən]. füllten is at rank #32,541, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʏltn̩].

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 33509, this pair ranks #1,684,430 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fallen vs füllten

Shared letters: efln. Private to "fallen": a. Private to "füllten": tü.

"fallen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "füllten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fallen ← afllen · faleln · falen · fallenn · fallne · ffallen · flalen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fallen" and "füllten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfalən] versus [ˈfʏltn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fallen" or "füllten"?
"fallen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #968 in our German list, against #32,541 for "füllten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "fallen" and "füllten" 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 "füllten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,684,430 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fallen" and "füllten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fügten vs füllten". 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 #1,684,430 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