früherenvsführenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,920
“früheren” frequency rank
#634
“führen” frequency rank
2554
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature früheren führen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs früh in eine Richtung geleiten, zum Beispiel, indem man nahe neben jemandem geht oder ihn sogar dabei berührt und ihm hilft einen Weg zu finden, den er sonst schwer hätte zu finden

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set früheren and führen apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
früheren
6 ch
führen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: früheren is [ˈfʁyːəʁən] while führen is [ˈfyːʁən]. 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 2554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

früheren is recorded at frequency rank #1,920, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁyːəʁən]. führen is at rank #634, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfyːʁən].

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 2554, this pair ranks #2,002,089 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of früheren vs führen

Shared letters: efhnrü. Private to "früheren": -. Private to "führen": -.

"früheren" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "führen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequency comparison

früheren#1,920
führen#634

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "früheren" and "führen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "früheren" is an adjective and "führen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "früheren" or "führen"?
"führen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #634 in our German list, against #1,920 for "früheren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering früheren vs führen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “früheren”; for a verb, it's “führen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “früheren” 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