FöhrvsfürWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#45,948
“Föhr” frequency rank
#16
“für” frequency rank
45964
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Föhr für
Definition eine nordfriesische Insel vor der Westküste Schleswig-Holsteins etwas oder jemand ist an etwas jemanden gerichtet, bestimmt, zugeordnet

Where the eye mixes Föhr and für

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Föhr runs 4 letters (CVCC) against für's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Föhr
3 ch
für

Look-alike desk: Föhr vs für

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Föhr is [føːɐ̯] 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 (name vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45964, 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]. 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 45964, this pair ranks #1,335,200 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Föhr vs für

Shared letters: fr. Private to "Föhr": hö. Private to "für": ü.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Föhr" and "für" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Föhr" is a name and "für" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Föhr" or "für" show up more?
"für" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16 in our German list, against #45,948 for "Föhr". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Föhr" and "für" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Föhr" 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 #1,335,200 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Föhr" and "für" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fock vs Föhr". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,335,200 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