fühltvsfünftWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fühlt is a verb, fünft is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fühlt” is a verb and “fünft” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,478
“fühlt” frequency rank
#41,828
“fünft” frequency rank
43306
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fühlt fünft
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fühlen mit mit einer Gruppe aus fünf Individuen etwas machen

Where the eye mixes fühlt and fünft

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fühlt and fünft follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
fühlt
5 ch
fünft

Look-alike desk: fühlt vs fünft

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fühlt is [fyːlt] while fünft is [fʏnft]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43306, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fühlt is recorded at frequency rank #1,478, classified as averb, pronounced [fyːlt]. fünft is at rank #41,828, tagged as anum, pronounced [fʏnft].

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 43306, this pair ranks #1,422,202 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fühlt vs fünft

Shared letters: ftü. Private to "fühlt": hl. Private to "fünft": n.

"fühlt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "fünft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fühlt" for "fünft" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fühlt" is a verb and "fünft" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "fühlt" or "fünft" show up more?
"fühlt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,478 in our German list, against #41,828 for "fünft". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fühlt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fünft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,422,202 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fühlt" and "fünft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fünft vs funzt". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,422,202 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list