FoltervsfoyerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,364
“Folter” frequency rank
#18,887
“foyer” frequency rank
27251
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Folter foyer
Definition die Misshandlung oder das Zufügen von körperlichen und seelischen Schmerzen Flur, Eingangsbereich, Diele

Where the eye mixes Folter and foyer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Folter runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against foyer's 5 (CVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Folter
5 ch
foyer

Why the eye confuses Folter with foyer

A purely visual mix-up. Folter ([ˈfɔltɐ]) and foyer ([ˈfɔɪ.eɪ]) 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 27251, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Folter is recorded at frequency rank #8,364, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɔltɐ]. foyer is at rank #18,887, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɔɪ.eɪ].

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 27251, this pair ranks #1,804,802 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Folter vs foyer

Shared letters: efor. Private to "Folter": lt. Private to "foyer": y.

"Folter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "foyer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Folter ← ffolter · floter · foletr · follter · folterr · foltre · foltter · fotler
  • foyer ← ffoyer · foeyr · foyerr · foyre · foyyer · fyoer · ofyer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Folter" and "foyer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɔltɐ] versus [ˈfɔɪ.eɪ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Folter" or "foyer"?
"Folter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,364 in our German list, against #18,887 for "foyer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Folter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "foyer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,804,802 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Folter" and "foyer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Flyern vs foyer". 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 #1,804,802 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