fielevsfühleTell them apart

Which to use

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

#40,535
“fiele” frequency rank
#1,921
“fühle” frequency rank
42456
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fiele fühle
Definition 1. Person Singular Konjunktiv Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fallen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fühlen

Where the eye mixes fiele and fühle

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

5 ch
fiele
5 ch
fühle

Look-alike desk: fiele vs fühle

A purely visual mix-up. fiele ([ˈfiːlə]) and fühle ([ˈfyːlə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42456, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fiele is recorded at frequency rank #40,535, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfiːlə]. fühle is at rank #1,921, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfyːlə].

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 42456, this pair ranks #1,448,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fiele vs fühle

Shared letters: efl. Private to "fiele": i. Private to "fühle": .

"fiele" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "fühle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fielefeile · ffiele · fieel · fielle · filee · ifele

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fiele" and "fühle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfiːlə] versus [ˈfyːlə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fiele" vs "fühle" - which ranks higher?
"fühle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,921 in our German list, against #40,535 for "fiele". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fiele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fühle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,448,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fiele" and "fühle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fiele vs friere". 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 #1,448,733 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