FaltevsfileTell them apart

Which to use

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

#40,524
“Falte” frequency rank
#24,335
“file” frequency rank
64859
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Falte file
Definition längliche Unebenheit in ebenen, glatten Oberflächen insbesondere bei textilen Stoffen, Papier, Haut und Ähnlichem Behältnis zur geordneten Aufbewahrung von Briefen oder anderen Dokumenten

Where the eye mixes Falte and file

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

5 ch
Falte
4 ch
file

Look-alike desk: Falte vs file

A purely visual mix-up. Falte ([ˈfaltə]) and file ([faɪl]) 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 64859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Falte is recorded at frequency rank #40,524, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaltə]. file is at rank #24,335, tagged as anoun, pronounced [faɪl].

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 64859, this pair ranks #626,755 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Falte vs file

Shared letters: efl. Private to "Falte": at. Private to "file": i.

"Falte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "file" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Falteaflte · falet · fallte · faltte · fatle · ffalte · flate
  • fileffile · fille · flie · ifle

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Falte" and "file" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaltə] versus [faɪl]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Falte" or "file" show up more?
"file" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,335 in our German list, against #40,524 for "Falte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Falte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "file" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #626,755 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Falte" and "file" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Falte vs Felge". 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 #626,755 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