freigelassenvsfreilassenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,294
“freigelassen” frequency rank
#37,521
“freilassen” frequency rank
51815
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature freigelassen freilassen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs freilassen ein Lebewesen in die Freiheit entlassen

Where the eye mixes freigelassen and freilassen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.

12 ch
freigelassen
10 ch
freilassen

Why the eye confuses freigelassen with freilassen

A purely visual mix-up. freigelassen ([ˈfʁaɪ̯ɡəˌlasn̩]) and freilassen ([ˈfʁaɪ̯ˌlasn̩]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

freigelassen is recorded at frequency rank #14,294, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪ̯ɡəˌlasn̩]. freilassen is at rank #37,521, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪ̯ˌlasn̩].

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 51815, this pair ranks #1,120,993 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of freigelassen vs freilassen

Shared letters: aefilnrs. Private to "freigelassen": g. Private to "freilassen": -.

"freigelassen" · 12 letters · shape CCVVCVCVCCVC  ·  "freilassen" · 10 letters · shape CCVVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • freigelassenferigelassen · ffreigelassen · fregielassen · freieglassen · freigealssen · freigelasen · freigelasesn · freigelassenn
  • freilassenferilassen · ffreilassen · freialssen · freilasen · freilasesn · freilassenn · freilassne · freilaßen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "freigelassen" for "freilassen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfʁaɪ̯ɡəˌlasn̩] versus [ˈfʁaɪ̯ˌlasn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "freigelassen" vs "freilassen" - which ranks higher?
"freigelassen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,294 in our German list, against #37,521 for "freilassen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "freigelassen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "freilassen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,120,993 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "freigelassen" and "freilassen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "freilassen vs Freilassung". 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 #1,120,993 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