fügtenvsführenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,292
“fügten” frequency rank
#634
“führen” frequency rank
45926
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fügten führen
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fügen 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 fügten and führen apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
fügten
6 ch
führen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fügten ([ˈfyːktn̩]) and führen ([ˈfyːʁən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fügten is recorded at frequency rank #45,292, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfyːktn̩]. 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 45926, this pair ranks #1,336,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fügten vs führen

Shared letters: efnü. Private to "fügten": gt. Private to "führen": hr.

"fügten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "führen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fügten" and "führen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfyːktn̩] versus [ˈfyːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fügten" or "führen"?
"führen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #634 in our German list, against #45,292 for "fügten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list