faltenvsfülltenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,852
“falten” frequency rank
#32,541
“füllten” frequency rank
43393
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature falten füllten
Definition umbiegen und zusammenlegen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs füllen

Where the eye mixes falten and füllten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. falten 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
falten
7 ch
füllten

Look-alike desk: falten vs füllten

A purely visual mix-up. falten ([ˈfaltn̩]) 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 43393, 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]. 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 43393, this pair ranks #1,419,546 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of falten vs füllten

Shared letters: eflnt. Private to "falten": a. Private to "füllten": ü.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • falten ← aflten · faletn · fallten · faltenn · faltne · faltten · fatlen · ffalten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "falten" for "füllten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaltn̩] versus [ˈfʏltn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "falten" vs "füllten" - which ranks higher?
"falten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,852 in our German list, against #32,541 for "füllten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "falten" 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 #1,419,546 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "falten" 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 #1,419,546 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