FelsenvsFersenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,424
“Felsen” frequency rank
#19,212
“Fersen” frequency rank
25636
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes Felsen and Fersen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Felsen
6 ch
Fersen

Why the eye confuses Felsen with Fersen

A purely visual mix-up. Felsen ([ˈfɛlzn̩]) and Fersen ([ˈfɛʁzn̩]) 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 - l in “Felsen” becomes r in “Fersen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Felsen is recorded at frequency rank #6,424, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛlzn̩]. Fersen is at rank #19,212, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛʁzn̩].

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 25636, this pair ranks #1,830,256 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Felsen vs Fersen

Shared letters: efns. Private to "Felsen": l. Private to "Fersen": r.

"Felsen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Fersen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Felseneflsen · felesn · fellsen · felsenn · felsne · felssen · feslen · ffelsen
  • Fersenefrsen · feresn · ferrsen · fersenn · fersne · fesren · ffersen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Felsen" and "Fersen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɛlzn̩] versus [ˈfɛʁzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Felsen" vs "Fersen" - which ranks higher?
"Felsen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,424 in our German list, against #19,212 for "Fersen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Felsen" and "Fersen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Felsen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fersen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,830,256 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Felsen" and "Fersen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fersen vs Fessel". 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 #1,830,256 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