fuhrvsfürsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fuhr is a verb, fürs is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fuhr” is a verb and “fürs” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,202
“fuhr” frequency rank
#1,292
“fürs” frequency rank
3494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fuhr fürs
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fahren für das

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fuhr and fürs apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
fuhr
4 ch
fürs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fuhr is [fuːɐ̯] while fürs is [fyːɐ̯s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fuhr is recorded at frequency rank #2,202, classified as averb, pronounced [fuːɐ̯]. fürs is at rank #1,292, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [fyːɐ̯s].

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 3494, this pair ranks #2,000,090 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fuhr vs fürs

Shared letters: fr. Private to "fuhr": hu. Private to "fürs": .

"fuhr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "fürs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fuhrffuhr · fhur · fuhhr · fuhrr · furh · ufhr

Frequency comparison

fuhr#2,202
fürs#1,292

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fuhr" and "fürs" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fuhr" is a verb and "fürs" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fuhr" or "fürs"?
"fürs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,292 in our German list, against #2,202 for "fuhr". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fuhr vs fürs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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