faulevsfrüheTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,209
“faule” frequency rank
#5,707
“frühe” frequency rank
24916
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faule frühe
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs faul Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs früh

Where the eye mixes faule and frühe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. faule (CVVCV) and frühe (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
faule
5 ch
frühe

Look-alike desk: faule vs frühe

A purely visual mix-up. faule ([ˈfaʊ̯lə]) and frühe ([ˈfʁyːə]) 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 24916, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

faule is recorded at frequency rank #19,209, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfaʊ̯lə]. frühe is at rank #5,707, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁyːə].

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 24916, this pair ranks #1,840,758 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of faule vs frühe

Shared letters: ef. Private to "faule": alu. Private to "frühe": hrü.

"faule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "frühe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faule ← afule · falue · fauel · faulle · ffaule · fuale

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "faule" and "frühe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaʊ̯lə] versus [ˈfʁyːə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "faule" vs "frühe" - which ranks higher?
"frühe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,707 in our German list, against #19,209 for "faule". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "faule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "frühe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,840,758 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faule" and "frühe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faule 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 #1,840,758 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