flutenvsfreutenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#19,910
“fluten” frequency rank
#28,193
“freuten” frequency rank
48103
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fluten freuten
Definition in großer Menge strömen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs freuen

Where the eye mixes fluten and freuten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fluten runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against freuten's 7 (CCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
fluten
7 ch
freuten

Visual trap between fluten and freuten

A purely visual mix-up. fluten ([ˈfluːtn̩]) and freuten ([ˈfʁɔɪ̯tn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48103, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fluten is recorded at frequency rank #19,910, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfluːtn̩]. freuten is at rank #28,193, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʁɔɪ̯tn̩].

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 48103, this pair ranks #1,260,740 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fluten vs freuten

Shared letters: efntu. Private to "fluten": l. Private to "freuten": r.

"fluten" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "freuten" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fluten ← ffluten · flluten · fltuen · fluetn · flutenn · flutne · flutten · fulten
  • freuten ← feruten · ffreuten · fretuen · freuetn · freutenn · freutne · freutten · frreuten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fluten" for "freuten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfluːtn̩] versus [ˈfʁɔɪ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "fluten" or "freuten" show up more?
"fluten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,910 in our German list, against #28,193 for "freuten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fluten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "freuten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,260,740 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fluten" and "freuten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "freuten vs Fritten". 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 #1,260,740 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