früherevsführeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: frühere is a adjective, führe is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#3,732
“frühere” frequency rank
#6,659
“führe” frequency rank
10391
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature frühere führe
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Komparativs des Adjektivs früh 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs führen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set frühere and führe apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
frühere
5 ch
führe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: frühere is [ˈfʁyːəʁə] while führe is [ˈfyːʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10391, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

frühere is recorded at frequency rank #3,732, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁyːəʁə]. führe is at rank #6,659, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfyːʁə].

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 10391, this pair ranks #1,975,386 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of frühere vs führe

Shared letters: efhrü. Private to "frühere": -. Private to "führe": -.

"frühere" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "führe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Frequency comparison

frühere#3,732
führe#6,659

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "frühere" and "führe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "frühere" is an adjective and "führe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "frühere" or "führe"?
"frühere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,732 in our German list, against #6,659 for "führe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering frühere vs führe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “frühere”; for a verb, it's “führe”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “frühere” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list