freutenvsfrühenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#28,193
“freuten” frequency rank
#2,025
“frühen” frequency rank
30218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature freuten frühen
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs freuen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs früh

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
freuten
6 ch
frühen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: freuten is [ˈfʁɔɪ̯tn̩] while frühen is [ˈfʁyːən]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

freuten is recorded at frequency rank #28,193, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfʁɔɪ̯tn̩]. 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 30218, this pair ranks #1,752,137 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of freuten vs frühen

Shared letters: efnr. Private to "freuten": tu. Private to "frühen": .

"freuten" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "frühen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • freutenferuten · ffreuten · fretuen · freuetn · freutenn · freutne · freutten · frreuten

Frequency comparison

freuten#28,193
frühen#2,025

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "freuten" and "frühen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "freuten" is a verb and "frühen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "freuten" or "frühen"?
"frühen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,025 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 freuten vs frühen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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