Which to use
“falten” and “foltern” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,852
- “falten” frequency rank
- #27,302
- “foltern” frequency rank
- 38154
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | falten | foltern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | umbiegen und zusammenlegen | jemandem (physisch oder psychisch) heftigen Schmerz zufügen |
Where the eye mixes falten and foltern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. falten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against foltern's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between falten and foltern
A purely visual mix-up. falten ([ˈfaltn̩]) and foltern ([ˈfɔltɐn]) 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 38154, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
falten is recorded at frequency rank #10,852, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfaltn̩]. foltern is at rank #27,302, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfɔltɐn].
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 38154, this pair ranks #1,571,432 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of falten vs foltern
Shared letters: eflnt. Private to "falten": a. Private to "foltern": or.
"falten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "foltern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "falten" and "foltern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "falten" or "foltern"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "falten" and "foltern" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "falten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foltern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,571,432 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "falten" and "foltern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Flyern vs foltern". 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 #1,571,432 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.