frierenvsfrüherenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#23,522
“frieren” frequency rank
#1,920
“früheren” frequency rank
25442
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature frieren früheren
Definition Kälte empfinden, wegen der Kälte sich unwohl fühlen, niedrige Temperaturen fühlen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs früh

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set frieren and früheren apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
frieren
8 ch
früheren

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: frieren is [ˈfʁiːʁən] while früheren is [ˈfʁyːəʁən]. 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 25442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

frieren is recorded at frequency rank #23,522, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfʁiːʁən]. früheren is at rank #1,920, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁyːəʁən].

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 25442, this pair ranks #1,833,228 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of frieren vs früheren

Shared letters: efnr. Private to "frieren": i. Private to "früheren": .

"frieren" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "früheren" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • frierenffrieren · fireren · freiren · frieern · frierenn · frierne · frierren · frireen

Frequency comparison

frieren#23,522
früheren#1,920

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "frieren" and "früheren" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "frieren" is a verb and "früheren" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "frieren" or "früheren"?
"früheren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,920 in our German list, against #23,522 for "frieren". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering frieren vs früheren

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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