FelgevsFelsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#49,666
“Felge” frequency rank
#11,867
“Fels” frequency rank
61533
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Felge Fels
Definition Bestandteil eines Rades, der den Reifen trägt zusammenhängende Masse festen Gesteins (Singular 1)

Where the eye mixes Felge and Fels

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Felge runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Fels's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Felge
4 ch
Fels

Look-alike desk: Felge vs Fels

A purely visual mix-up. Felge ([ˈfɛlɡə]) and Fels ([fɛls]) 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 61533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Felge is recorded at frequency rank #49,666, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛlɡə]. Fels is at rank #11,867, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fɛls].

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 61533, this pair ranks #746,179 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Felge vs Fels

Shared letters: efl. Private to "Felge": g. Private to "Fels": s.

"Felge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Fels" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Felge ← eflge · fegle · feleg · felgge · fellge · ffelge · flege
  • Fels ← efls · fells · felss · fesl · ffels · fles

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Felge" and "Fels" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɛlɡə] versus [fɛls]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Felge" or "Fels"?
"Fels" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,867 in our German list, against #49,666 for "Felge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Felge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fels" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #746,179 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Felge" and "Fels" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Felge vs Fete". 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 #746,179 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