Which to use
“fehlen” and “flehen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,415
- “fehlen” frequency rank
- #40,536
- “flehen” frequency rank
- 41951
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fehlen | flehen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nicht vorhanden sein | emotional, stark untersetzt, bei jemandem um etwas bitten |
Where the eye mixes fehlen and flehen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between fehlen and flehen
A purely visual mix-up. fehlen ([ˈfeːlən]) and flehen ([ˈfleːən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fehlen is recorded at frequency rank #1,415, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfeːlən]. flehen is at rank #40,536, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfleːən].
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 41951, this pair ranks #1,464,088 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fehlen vs flehen
Shared letters: efhln. Private to "fehlen": -. Private to "flehen": -.
"fehlen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "flehen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fehlen" for "flehen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fehlen" vs "flehen" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fehlen" and "flehen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fehlen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,464,088 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fehlen" and "flehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flehen vs fleht". 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 #1,464,088 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.