FüchsevsfürchteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#17,295
“Füchse” frequency rank
#6,660
“fürchte” frequency rank
23955
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
Füchse
7 ch
fürchte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Füchse is [ˈfʏksə] while fürchte is [ˈfʏʁçtə]. 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 23955, 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]. fürchte is at rank #6,660, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʏʁçtə].

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 23955, this pair ranks #1,854,282 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Füchse vs fürchte

Shared letters: cefhü. Private to "Füchse": s. Private to "fürchte": rt.

"Füchse" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "fürchte" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCCV

Frequency comparison

Füchse#17,295
fürchte#6,660

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Füchse" and "fürchte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Füchse" is a noun and "fürchte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Füchse" or "fürchte"?
"fürchte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,660 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 fürchte

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 “fürchte”.
  • 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