frühvsfunWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,056
“früh” frequency rank
#6,924
“fun” frequency rank
7980
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature früh fun
Definition zeitlich am Anfang liegend, zum Beginn spaßig, lustig

Where the eye mixes früh and fun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
früh
3 ch
fun

Look-alike desk: früh vs fun

A purely visual mix-up. früh ([fʁyː]) and fun ([fʌn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7980, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

früh is recorded at frequency rank #1,056, classified as anadj, pronounced [fʁyː]. fun is at rank #6,924, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fʌn].

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 7980, this pair ranks #1,986,082 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of früh vs fun

Shared letters: f. Private to "früh": hrü. Private to "fun": nu.

"früh" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "fun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "früh" for "fun" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fʁyː] versus [fʌn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "früh" vs "fun" - which ranks higher?
"früh" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,056 in our German list, against #6,924 for "fun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "früh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,986,082 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "früh" and "fun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fun vs funzt". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,986,082 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list