führenvsFührersWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#634
“führen” frequency rank
#25,134
“Führers” frequency rank
25768
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature führen Führers
Definition 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 Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Führer

Where the eye mixes führen and Führers

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. führen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Führers's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
führen
7 ch
Führers

Look-alike desk: führen vs Führers

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: führen is [ˈfyːʁən] while Führers is [ˈfyːʁɐs]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25768, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

führen is recorded at frequency rank #634, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfyːʁən]. Führers is at rank #25,134, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfyːʁɐs].

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 25768, this pair ranks #1,828,284 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of führen vs Führers

Shared letters: efhrü. Private to "führen": n. Private to "Führers": s.

"führen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Führers" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "führen" and "Führers" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "führen" is a verb and "Führers" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "führen" or "Führers" show up more?
"führen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #634 in our German list, against #25,134 for "Führers". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "führen" and "Führers" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "führen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Führers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,828,284 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "führen" and "Führers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Führerin vs Führers". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,828,284 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