FlutvsfürTell them apart

Quick tell: Flut is a noun, für is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Flut” is a noun and “für” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,084
“Flut” frequency rank
#16
“für” frequency rank
10100
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Flut für
Definition der (in den meisten Teilen der Welt) zwei Mal tägliche Zeitraum des Wasserauflaufes an den Küsten der Weltmeere etwas oder jemand ist an etwas jemanden gerichtet, bestimmt, zugeordnet

Where the eye mixes Flut and für

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
Flut
3 ch
für

Visual trap between Flut and für

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Flut is [fluːt] while für is [fyːɐ̯]. 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 preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10100, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Flut is recorded at frequency rank #10,084, classified as anoun, pronounced [fluːt]. für is at rank #16, tagged as aprep, pronounced [fyːɐ̯].

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 10100, this pair ranks #1,976,804 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Flut vs für

Shared letters: f. Private to "Flut": ltu. Private to "für": .

"Flut" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "für" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Flutfflut · fllut · fltu · flutt · fult

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Flut" and "für" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Flut" is a noun and "für" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Flut" or "für" show up more?
"für" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16 in our German list, against #10,084 for "Flut". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Flut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "für" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,976,804 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Flut" and "für" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fist vs Flut". 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 #1,976,804 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