FreudevsfreutenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Freude is a noun, freuten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Freude” is a noun and “freuten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,157
“Freude” frequency rank
#28,193
“freuten” frequency rank
29350
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Freude freuten
Definition positives Gefühl 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs freuen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Freude and freuten apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Freude
7 ch
freuten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Freude is [ˈfʁɔɪ̯də] while freuten is [ˈfʁɔɪ̯tn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29350, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Freude is recorded at frequency rank #1,157, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʁɔɪ̯də]. freuten is at rank #28,193, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʁɔɪ̯tn̩].

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 29350, this pair ranks #1,768,403 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Freude vs freuten

Shared letters: efru. Private to "Freude": d. Private to "freuten": nt.

"Freude" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "freuten" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Freudeferude · ffreude · fredue · freudde · freued · frreude · fruede · rfeude
  • freutenferuten · ffreuten · fretuen · freuetn · freutenn · freutne · freutten · frreuten

Frequency comparison

Freude#1,157
freuten#28,193

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Freude" and "freuten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Freude" is a noun and "freuten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Freude" or "freuten"?
"Freude" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,157 in our German list, against #28,193 for "freuten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Freude vs freuten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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