FrauenvsfrühenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Frauen is a noun, frühen is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Frauen” is a noun and “frühen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#272
“Frauen” frequency rank
#2,025
“frühen” frequency rank
2297
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Frauen frühen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Frau Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs früh

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
Frauen
6 ch
frühen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Frauen is [ˈfʁaʊ̯ən] while frühen is [ˈfʁyːən]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2297, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Frauen is recorded at frequency rank #272, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʁaʊ̯ən]. frühen is at rank #2,025, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁyːən].

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 2297, this pair ranks #2,002,674 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Frauen vs frühen

Shared letters: efnr. Private to "Frauen": au. Private to "frühen": .

"Frauen" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC  ·  "frühen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Frauenfaruen · ffrauen · fraeun · frauenn · fraune · frrauen · fruaen · rfauen

Frequency comparison

Frauen#272
frühen#2,025

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Frauen" and "frühen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Frauen" is a noun and "frühen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Frauen" or "frühen"?
"Frauen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #272 in our German list, against #2,025 for "frühen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Frauen vs frühen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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