Which to use
“fil” is a noun and “fühl” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,176
- “fil” frequency rank
- #6,428
- “fühl” frequency rank
- 49604
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fil | fühl |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mächtiges Säugetier mit Rüssel und Stoßzähnen; Elefant | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fühlen |
Where the eye mixes fil and fühl
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fil runs 3 letters (CVC) against fühl's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fil and fühl
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fil is [fiɫ] while fühl is [fyːl]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49604, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fil is recorded at frequency rank #43,176, classified as anoun, pronounced [fiɫ]. fühl is at rank #6,428, tagged as averb, pronounced [fyːl].
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 49604, this pair ranks #1,205,196 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fil vs fühl
Shared letters: fl. Private to "fil": i. Private to "fühl": hü.
"fil" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "fühl" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fil" for "fühl" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "fil" or "fühl" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fil" and "fühl" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fühl" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,205,196 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fil" and "fühl" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fil vs fist". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,205,196 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.