FelgenvsFelsenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#27,289
“Felgen” frequency rank
#6,424
“Felsen” frequency rank
33713
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Felgen Felsen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Felge größere in die Höhe ragende Masse fest zusammenhängenden harten Gesteins

Where the eye mixes Felgen and Felsen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Felgen and Felsen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Felgen
6 ch
Felsen

Visual trap between Felgen and Felsen

A purely visual mix-up. Felgen ([ˈfɛlɡn̩]) and Felsen ([ˈfɛlzn̩]) 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 a single letter - g in “Felgen” becomes s in “Felsen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33713, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Felgen is recorded at frequency rank #27,289, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛlɡn̩]. Felsen is at rank #6,424, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛlzn̩].

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 33713, this pair ranks #1,679,716 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Felgen vs Felsen

Shared letters: efln. Private to "Felgen": g. Private to "Felsen": s.

"Felgen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Felsen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Felgen ← eflgen · feglen · felegn · felgenn · felggen · felgne · fellgen · ffelgen
  • Felsen ← eflsen · felesn · fellsen · felsenn · felsne · felssen · feslen · ffelsen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Felgen" and "Felsen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɛlɡn̩] versus [ˈfɛlzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Felgen" or "Felsen" show up more?
"Felsen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,424 in our German list, against #27,289 for "Felgen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Felgen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Felsen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,679,716 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Felgen" and "Felsen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Felge vs Felgen". 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 #1,679,716 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