FaltevsFolterWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,524
“Falte” frequency rank
#8,364
“Folter” frequency rank
48888
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Falte Folter
Definition längliche Unebenheit in ebenen, glatten Oberflächen insbesondere bei textilen Stoffen, Papier, Haut und Ähnlichem die Misshandlung oder das Zufügen von körperlichen und seelischen Schmerzen

Where the eye mixes Falte and Folter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Falte runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Folter's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Falte
6 ch
Folter

Why the eye confuses Falte with Folter

A purely visual mix-up. Falte ([ˈfaltə]) and Folter ([ˈfɔltɐ]) 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 48888, 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]. Folter is at rank #8,364, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɔltɐ].

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 48888, this pair ranks #1,231,809 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Falte vs Folter

Shared letters: eflt. Private to "Falte": a. Private to "Folter": or.

"Falte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Folter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Falte ← aflte · falet · fallte · faltte · fatle · ffalte · flate
  • Folter ← ffolter · floter · foletr · follter · folterr · foltre · foltter · fotler

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Falte" for "Folter" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaltə] versus [ˈfɔltɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Falte" or "Folter" show up more?
"Folter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,364 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 "Folter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,231,809 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Falte" and "Folter" 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 #1,231,809 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