Which to use
“fehlende” and “führende” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,983
- “fehlende” frequency rank
- #6,796
- “führende” frequency rank
- 11779
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fehlende | führende |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fehlend | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs führend |
Where the eye mixes fehlende and führende
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. fehlende and führende follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses fehlende with führende
A purely visual mix-up. fehlende ([ˈfeːləndə]) and führende ([ˈfyːʁəndə]) 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 11779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fehlende is recorded at frequency rank #4,983, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfeːləndə]. führende is at rank #6,796, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfyːʁəndə].
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 11779, this pair ranks #1,967,944 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fehlende vs führende
Shared letters: defhn. Private to "fehlende": l. Private to "führende": rü.
"fehlende" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "führende" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fehlende ← efhlende · fehelnde · fehhlende · fehledne · fehlendde · fehlened · fehlennde · fehllende
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fehlende" for "führende" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "fehlende" or "führende" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fehlende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "führende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,967,944 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fehlende" and "führende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "führende vs führendes". 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 #1,967,944 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.