fehltvsfühlWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“fehlt” and “fühl” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#950
“fehlt” frequency rank
#6,428
“fühl” frequency rank
7378
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fehlt fühl
Definition Imperativ Plural (ihr) des Verbs fehlen 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fühlen

Where the eye mixes fehlt and fühl

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

5 ch
fehlt
4 ch
fühl

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fehlt ([feːlt]) and fühl ([fyːl]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7378, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fehlt is recorded at frequency rank #950, classified as averb, pronounced [feːlt]. fühl is at rank #6,428, tagged as averb, pronounced [fyːl].

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 7378, this pair ranks #1,988,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fehlt vs fühl

Shared letters: fhl. Private to "fehlt": et. Private to "fühl": ü.

"fehlt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "fühl" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fehltefhlt · fehhlt · fehllt · fehltt · fehtl · felht · ffehlt · fhelt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fehlt" and "fühl" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([feːlt] versus [fyːl]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fehlt" or "fühl"?
"fehlt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #950 in our German list, against #6,428 for "fühl". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "fehlt" and "fühl". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fehlt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fühl" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,988,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fehlt" and "fühl" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Föhr vs fühl". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list