Which to use
“fehle” is a verb and “Fehlern” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,247
- “fehle” frequency rank
- #8,558
- “Fehlern” frequency rank
- 28805
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fehle | Fehlern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fehlen | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Fehler |
Where the eye mixes fehle and Fehlern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fehle runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Fehlern's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fehle and Fehlern
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fehle is [ˈfeːlə] while Fehlern is [ˈfeːlɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fehle” sits inside “Fehlern”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28805, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fehle is recorded at frequency rank #20,247, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfeːlə]. Fehlern is at rank #8,558, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfeːlɐn].
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 28805, this pair ranks #1,778,262 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fehle vs Fehlern
Shared letters: efhl. Private to "fehle": -. Private to "Fehlern": nr.
"fehle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "Fehlern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fehle" and "Fehlern" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "fehle" or "Fehlern" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fehle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Fehlern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,778,262 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fehle" and "Fehlern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fehle vs Felge". 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 #1,778,262 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.