Which to use
“fehlender” is an adjective and “Führender” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,050
- “fehlender” frequency rank
- #16,155
- “Führender” frequency rank
- 27205
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fehlender | Führender |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fehlend | jemand, der in einem Wettbewerb an der ersten Stelle liegt |
Where the eye mixes fehlender and Führender
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. fehlender and Führender follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses fehlender with Führender
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fehlender is [ˈfeːləndɐ] while Führender is [ˈfyːʁəndɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27205, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fehlender is recorded at frequency rank #11,050, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfeːləndɐ]. Führender is at rank #16,155, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfyːʁəndɐ].
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 27205, this pair ranks #1,805,581 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fehlender vs Führender
Shared letters: defhnr. Private to "fehlender": l. Private to "Führender": ü.
"fehlender" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "Führender" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fehlender ← efhlender · fehelnder · fehhlender · fehledner · fehlendder · fehlenderr · fehlendre · fehlenedr
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fehlender" for "Führender" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fehlender" or "Führender"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fehlender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Führender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,805,581 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fehlender" and "Führender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Führender 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 #1,805,581 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.