fatavsfaulWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fata is a noun, faul is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fata” is a noun and “faul” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,920
“fata” frequency rank
#5,826
“faul” frequency rank
51746
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fata faul
Definition die Fee nicht mehr frisch; verrottet, verfault

Letter map: fata vs faul

Shared letters muted; letters that set fata and faul apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. fata (CVCV) and faul (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
fata
4 ch
faul

Role in the sentence - fata and faul

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fata is anoun and faulanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51746, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fata is recorded at frequency rank #45,920, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. faul is at rank #5,826, tagged as anadj, pronounced [faʊ̯l].

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 51746, this pair ranks #1,123,604 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fata vs faul

Shared letters: af. Private to "fata": t. Private to "faul": lu.

"fata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "faul" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fata ← afta · faat · fatta · ffata · ftaa
  • faul ← aful · falu · faull · ffaul · fual

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fata" and "faul" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fata" is a noun and "faul" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fata" vs "faul" - which ranks higher?
"faul" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,826 in our German list, against #45,920 for "fata". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "fata" vs "faul" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "faul" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,123,604 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fata" and "faul" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fata vs puzzles". 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 #1,123,604 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