Which to use
“faul” is an adjective and “fiel” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,826
- “faul” frequency rank
- #1,550
- “fiel” frequency rank
- 7376
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faul | fiel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nicht mehr frisch; verrottet, verfault | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fallen |
Where the eye mixes faul and fiel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: faul vs fiel
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faul is [faʊ̯l] while fiel is [fiːl]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faul is recorded at frequency rank #5,826, classified as anadj, pronounced [faʊ̯l]. fiel is at rank #1,550, tagged as averb, pronounced [fiːl].
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 7376, this pair ranks #1,988,388 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of faul vs fiel
Shared letters: fl. Private to "faul": au. Private to "fiel": ei.
"faul" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fiel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "faul" and "fiel" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "faul" vs "fiel" - which ranks higher?
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 "faul" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fiel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,988,388 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faul" and "fiel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faul vs Fouls". 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 #1,988,388 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.