flogenvsfolgenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,567
“flogen” frequency rank
#566
“folgen” frequency rank
15133
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flogen folgen
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fliegen jemandem oder etwas hinterhergehen oder auch hinterherfahren

Where the eye mixes flogen and folgen

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

6 ch
flogen
6 ch
folgen

Why the eye confuses flogen with folgen

A purely visual mix-up. flogen ([floːɡn̩]) and folgen ([ˈfɔlɡn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (lo ↔ ol) - a transposition the eye reads straight past. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15133, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flogen is recorded at frequency rank #14,567, classified as averb, pronounced [floːɡn̩]. folgen is at rank #566, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfɔlɡn̩].

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 15133, this pair ranks #1,946,136 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of flogen vs folgen

Shared letters: efglno. Private to "flogen": -. Private to "folgen": -.

"flogen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "folgen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • flogenfflogen · flgoen · fllogen · floegn · flogenn · floggen · flogne · lfogen
  • folgenffolgen · foglen · folegn · folgenn · folggen · folgne · follgen · oflgen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flogen" and "folgen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([floːɡn̩] versus [ˈfɔlɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "flogen" vs "folgen" - which ranks higher?
"folgen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #566 in our German list, against #14,567 for "flogen". 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 "flogen" and "folgen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "flogen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "folgen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,946,136 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flogen" and "folgen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flogen vs flores". 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 #1,946,136 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