fielvsfilsTell them apart

Quick tell: fiel is a verb, fils is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fiel” is a verb and “fils” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,550
“fiel” frequency rank
#49,670
“fils” frequency rank
51220
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fiel fils
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fallen männlicher Nachkomme: Sohn

Where the eye mixes fiel and fils

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fiel (CVVC) and fils (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
fiel
4 ch
fils

Visual trap between fiel and fils

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fiel is [fiːl] while fils is [fis]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51220, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fiel is recorded at frequency rank #1,550, classified as averb, pronounced [fiːl]. fils is at rank #49,670, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fis].

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 51220, this pair ranks #1,143,898 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fiel vs fils

Shared letters: fil. Private to "fiel": e. Private to "fils": s.

"fiel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "fils" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fielfeil · ffiel · fiell · ifel
  • filsffils · fills · filss · fisl · flis · ifls

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fiel" and "fils" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fiel" is a verb and "fils" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fiel" vs "fils" - which ranks higher?
"fiel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,550 in our German list, against #49,670 for "fils". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fiel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,143,898 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fiel" and "fils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fils vs fist". 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 #1,143,898 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