faulvsFlurWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#5,826
“faul” frequency rank
#6,536
“Flur” frequency rank
12362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faul Flur
Definition nicht mehr frisch; verrottet, verfault Raum zwischen Hauseingang und Treppenhaus oder zwischen Haustür und Wohnbereich

Where the eye mixes faul and Flur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
faul
4 ch
Flur

Look-alike desk: faul vs Flur

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faul is [faʊ̯l] while Flur is [fluːɐ̯]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12362, 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]. Flur is at rank #6,536, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fluːɐ̯].

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 12362, this pair ranks #1,964,615 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of faul vs Flur

Shared letters: flu. Private to "faul": a. Private to "Flur": r.

"faul" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Flur" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faulaful · falu · faull · ffaul · fual
  • Flurfflur · fllur · flru · flurr · fulr · lfur

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "faul" and "Flur" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "faul" is an adjective and "Flur" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "faul" vs "Flur" - which ranks higher?
"faul" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,826 in our German list, against #6,536 for "Flur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "faul" and "Flur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "faul" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Flur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,964,615 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faul" and "Flur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Flur vs Flure". 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 #1,964,615 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