FaltervsFässerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,818
“Falter” frequency rank
#24,728
“Fässer” frequency rank
38546
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Falter Fässer
Definition Vertreter einer artenreichen Ordnung der Insekten Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Fass

Where the eye mixes Falter and Fässer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Falter and Fässer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Falter
6 ch
Fässer

Visual trap between Falter and Fässer

A purely visual mix-up. Falter ([ˈfaltɐ]) and Fässer ([ˈfɛsɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38546, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Falter is recorded at frequency rank #13,818, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaltɐ]. Fässer is at rank #24,728, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛsɐ].

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 38546, this pair ranks #1,561,084 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Falter vs Fässer

Shared letters: efr. Private to "Falter": alt. Private to "Fässer": sä.

"Falter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Fässer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Falter ← aflter · faletr · fallter · falterr · faltre · faltter · fatler · ffalter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Falter" for "Fässer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaltɐ] versus [ˈfɛsɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Falter" or "Fässer"?
"Falter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,818 in our German list, against #24,728 for "Fässer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Falter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fässer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,561,084 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Falter" and "Fässer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Färber vs Fässer". 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 #1,561,084 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