falsevsFolgeTell them apart

Quick tell: false is a adjective, Folge is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“false” is an adjective and “Folge” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,516
“false” frequency rank
#487
“Folge” frequency rank
24003
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature false Folge
Definition falsch Ergebnis oder Wirkung einer Handlung oder eines Geschehens

Where the eye mixes false and Folge

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
false
5 ch
Folge

Visual trap between false and Folge

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: false is [fɔːls] while Folge is [ˈfɔlɡə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24003, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

false is recorded at frequency rank #23,516, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɔːls]. Folge is at rank #487, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɔlɡə].

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 24003, this pair ranks #1,853,621 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of false vs Folge

Shared letters: efl. Private to "false": as. Private to "Folge": go.

"false" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Folge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • falseaflse · falsse · fasle · ffalse · flase
  • Folgeffolge · floge · fogle · foleg · folgge · follge · oflge

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "false" and "Folge" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "false" is an adjective and "Folge" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "false" or "Folge" show up more?
"Folge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #487 in our German list, against #23,516 for "false". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "false" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Folge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,853,621 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "false" and "Folge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "false 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 #1,853,621 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