Which to use
“fruchtbare” and “furchtbare” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,048
- “fruchtbare” frequency rank
- #16,431
- “furchtbare” frequency rank
- 47479
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fruchtbare | furchtbare |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fruchtbar | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs furchtbar |
Where the eye mixes fruchtbare and furchtbare
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fruchtbare with furchtbare
A purely visual mix-up. fruchtbare ([ˈfʁʊxtbaːʁə]) and furchtbare ([ˈfʊʁçtbaːʁə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (ru ↔ ur) - a transposition the eye reads straight past. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fruchtbare is recorded at frequency rank #31,048, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁʊxtbaːʁə]. furchtbare is at rank #16,431, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʊʁçtbaːʁə].
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 47479, this pair ranks #1,282,798 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fruchtbare vs furchtbare
Shared letters: abcefhrtu. Private to "fruchtbare": -. Private to "furchtbare": -.
"fruchtbare" · 10 letters · shape CCVCCCCVCV · "furchtbare" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fruchtbare ← ffruchtbare · frcuhtbare · frruchtbare · frucchtbare · fruchbtare · fruchhtbare · fruchtabre · fruchtbaer
- furchtbare ← ffurchtbare · fucrhtbare · furcchtbare · furchbtare · furchhtbare · furchtabre · furchtbaer · furchtbarre
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fruchtbare" and "furchtbare" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "fruchtbare" or "furchtbare" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fruchtbare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "furchtbare" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,282,798 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fruchtbare" and "furchtbare" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "furchtbare vs furchtbares". 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 #1,282,798 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.