FöhrvsfolConfusable pair

Quick tell: Föhr is a name, fol is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Föhr” is a name and “fol” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,948
“Föhr” frequency rank
#34,656
“fol” frequency rank
80604
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Föhr fol
Definition eine nordfriesische Insel vor der Westküste Schleswig-Holsteins 2. Person Singular Präsens Imperativ Nichtadmirativ Aktiv des Verbs flas ‚sprechen, reden‘

Letter map: Föhr vs fol

Shared letters muted; letters that set Föhr and fol apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. Föhr runs 4 letters (CVCC) against fol's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Föhr
3 ch
fol

Role in the sentence - Föhr and fol

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Föhr is aname and folaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80604, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Föhr is recorded at frequency rank #45,948, classified as aname, pronounced [føːɐ̯]. fol is at rank #34,656, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 80604, this pair ranks #192,300 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Föhr vs fol

Shared letters: f. Private to "Föhr": hrö. Private to "fol": lo.

"Föhr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "fol" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Föhr" and "fol" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Föhr" is a name and "fol" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Föhr" or "fol" show up more?
"fol" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,656 in our German list, against #45,948 for "Föhr". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "Föhr" vs "fol" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Föhr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fol" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #192,300 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Föhr" and "fol" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fock vs Föhr". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #192,300 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