fragenvsfrohenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fragen is a verb, frohen is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fragen” is a verb and “frohen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#312
“fragen” frequency rank
#27,729
“frohen” frequency rank
28041
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fragen frohen
Definition eine Auskunft erbitten, um eine Auskunft bitten, eine Frage stellen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs froh

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fragen and frohen apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
fragen
6 ch
frohen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fragen is [ˈfʁaːɡn̩] while frohen is [ˈfʁoːən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28041, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fragen is recorded at frequency rank #312, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfʁaːɡn̩]. frohen is at rank #27,729, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁoːən].

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 28041, this pair ranks #1,791,593 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fragen vs frohen

Shared letters: efnr. Private to "fragen": ag. Private to "frohen": ho.

"fragen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "frohen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fragenfargen · ffragen · fraegn · fragenn · fraggen · fragne · frgaen · frragen
  • frohenffrohen · forhen · frhoen · froehn · frohenn · frohhen · frohne · frrohen

Frequency comparison

fragen#312
frohen#27,729

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fragen" and "frohen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fragen" is a verb and "frohen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fragen" or "frohen"?
"fragen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #312 in our German list, against #27,729 for "frohen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering fragen vs frohen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “fragen”; for an adjective, it's “frohen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fragen” 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