FüchsevsführeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#17,295
“Füchse” frequency rank
#6,659
“führe” frequency rank
23954
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Füchse führe
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Fuchs 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs führen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Füchse and führe apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Füchse
5 ch
führe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Füchse is [ˈfʏksə] while führe is [ˈfyːʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23954, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Füchse is recorded at frequency rank #17,295, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʏksə]. 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 23954, this pair ranks #1,854,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Füchse vs führe

Shared letters: efhü. Private to "Füchse": cs. Private to "führe": r.

"Füchse" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "führe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Frequency comparison

Füchse#17,295
führe#6,659

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Füchse" and "führe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Füchse" is a noun and "führe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Füchse" or "führe"?
"führe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,659 in our German list, against #17,295 for "Füchse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Füchse vs führe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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