Which to use
“fear” and “Fels” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,122
- “fear” frequency rank
- #11,867
- “Fels” frequency rank
- 40989
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fear | Fels |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (die Emotion) Furcht | zusammenhängende Masse festen Gesteins (Singular 1) |
Where the eye mixes fear and Fels
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fear (CVVC) and Fels (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: fear vs Fels
A purely visual mix-up. fear ([fɪə]) and Fels ([fɛls]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40989, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fear is recorded at frequency rank #29,122, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɪə]. Fels is at rank #11,867, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fɛls].
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 40989, this pair ranks #1,492,482 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fear vs Fels
Shared letters: ef. Private to "fear": ar. Private to "Fels": ls.
"fear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Fels" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fear" for "Fels" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "fear" or "Fels" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fear" and "Fels" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Fels" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,492,482 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fear" and "Fels" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fear vs ferry". 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 #1,492,482 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.