Which to use
“freie” and “frühe” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,257
- “freie” frequency rank
- #5,707
- “frühe” frequency rank
- 6964
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | freie | frühe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs frei | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs früh |
Where the eye mixes freie and frühe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses freie with frühe
A purely visual mix-up. freie ([ˈfʁaɪ̯ə]) and frühe ([ˈfʁyːə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6964, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
freie is recorded at frequency rank #1,257, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪ̯ə]. frühe is at rank #5,707, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁyːə].
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 6964, this pair ranks #1,989,871 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of freie vs frühe
Shared letters: efr. Private to "freie": i. Private to "frühe": hü.
"freie" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV · "frühe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- freie ← ferie · ffreie · freei · friee · frreie · rfeie
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "freie" and "frühe" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "freie" or "frühe"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "freie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frühe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,989,871 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "freie" and "frühe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Flure vs frühe". 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 #1,989,871 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.