frohvsfrühWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,386
“froh” frequency rank
#1,056
“früh” frequency rank
2442
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature froh früh
Definition voller Freude sein zeitlich am Anfang liegend, zum Beginn

Where the eye mixes froh and früh

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
froh
4 ch
früh

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. froh ([fʁoː]) and früh ([fʁyː]) 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 a single letter - o in “froh” becomes ü in “früh”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

froh is recorded at frequency rank #1,386, classified as anadj, pronounced [fʁoː]. früh is at rank #1,056, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fʁyː].

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 2442, this pair ranks #2,002,340 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of froh vs früh

Shared letters: fhr. Private to "froh": o. Private to "früh": ü.

"froh" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "früh" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • frohffroh · forh · frho · frohh · frroh · rfoh

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "froh" and "früh" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fʁoː] versus [fʁyː]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "froh" or "früh"?
"früh" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,056 in our German list, against #1,386 for "froh". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "froh" and "früh". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "froh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "früh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,002,340 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "froh" and "früh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Föhr vs froh". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list