flehen vs freuen, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#40,536
“flehen” frequency rank: #1,034
“freuen” frequency rank: 41570
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	flehen	freuen
Definition	emotional, stark untersetzt, bei jemandem um etwas bitten	Freude erleben oder empfinden

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set flehen and freuen apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

flehen

6 ch

freuen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. flehen ([ˈfleːən]) and freuen ([ˈfʁɔɪ̯ən]) 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 41570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flehen is recorded at frequency rank #40,536, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfleːən]. freuen is at rank #1,034, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʁɔɪ̯ən].

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 41570, this pair ranks #1,475,536 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of flehen vs freuen

Shared letters: efn. Private to "flehen": hl. Private to "freuen": ru.

"flehen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "freuen" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

flehen ← fflehen · fleehn · flehenn · flehhen · flehne · flheen · fllehen · lfehen
freuen ← feruen · ffreuen · freeun · freuenn · freune · frreuen · frueen · rfeuen

Frequency comparison

flehen#40,536

freuen#1,034

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flehen" and "freuen" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently ([ˈfleːən] versus [ˈfʁɔɪ̯ən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "flehen" or "freuen"?

"freuen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,034 in our German list, against #40,536 for "flehen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering flehen vs freuen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “flehen” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable