fehlevsFeldConfusable pair

Quick tell: fehle is a verb, Feld is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fehle” is a verb and “Feld” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,247
“fehle” frequency rank
#1,966
“Feld” frequency rank
22213
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fehle Feld
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fehlen Acker; eine Fläche, auf der Pflanzen für eine Ernte angebaut werden

Where the eye mixes fehle and Feld

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
fehle
4 ch
Feld

Visual trap between fehle and Feld

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fehle is [ˈfeːlə] while Feld is [fɛlt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22213, 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]. Feld is at rank #1,966, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fɛlt].

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 22213, this pair ranks #1,876,921 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fehle vs Feld

Shared letters: efl. Private to "fehle": h. Private to "Feld": d.

"fehle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Feld" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fehleefhle · fehel · fehhle · fehlle · felhe · ffehle · fhele
  • Feldefld · fedl · feldd · felld · ffeld · fled

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fehle" and "Feld" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fehle" is a verb and "Feld" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fehle" vs "Feld" - which ranks higher?
"Feld" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,966 in our German list, against #20,247 for "fehle". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "fehle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Feld" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,876,921 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fehle" and "Feld" 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 #1,876,921 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