FöhrvsfroheWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Föhr is a name, frohe is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#45,948
“Föhr” frequency rank
#8,713
“frohe” frequency rank
54661
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Föhr frohe
Definition eine nordfriesische Insel vor der Westküste Schleswig-Holsteins Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs froh

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Föhr and frohe apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
Föhr
5 ch
frohe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Föhr is [føːɐ̯] while frohe is [ˈfʁoːə]. 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 (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54661, 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]. frohe is at rank #8,713, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁoːə].

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 54661, this pair ranks #1,010,102 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Föhr vs frohe

Shared letters: fhr. Private to "Föhr": ö. Private to "frohe": eo.

"Föhr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "frohe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • froheffrohe · forhe · frhoe · froeh · frohhe · frrohe · rfohe

Frequency comparison

Föhr#45,948
frohe#8,713

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Föhr" and "frohe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Föhr" is a name and "frohe" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Föhr" or "frohe"?
"frohe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,713 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.

Remembering Föhr vs frohe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Föhr”; for an adjective, it's “frohe”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Föhr” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list