Which to use
“Früchten” is a noun and “fürchten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,297
- “Früchten” frequency rank
- #5,172
- “fürchten” frequency rank
- 19469
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Früchten | fürchten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Frucht | etwas fürchten: vor etwas Angst (Furcht) haben |
Where the eye mixes Früchten and fürchten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Früchten (CCVCCCVC) and fürchten (CVCCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses Früchten with fürchten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Früchten is [ˈfʁʏçtn̩] while fürchten is [ˈfʏʁçtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (rü ↔ ür) - a transposition the eye reads straight past, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19469, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Früchten is recorded at frequency rank #14,297, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʁʏçtn̩]. fürchten is at rank #5,172, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʏʁçtn̩].
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 19469, this pair ranks #1,908,024 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Früchten vs fürchten
Shared letters: cefhnrtü. Private to "Früchten": -. Private to "fürchten": -.
"Früchten" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC · "fürchten" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Früchten" for "fürchten" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Früchten" vs "fürchten" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Früchten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fürchten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,908,024 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Früchten" and "fürchten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Früchten vs fruchtig". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,908,024 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.