FüllevsfüllenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#8,372
“Fülle” frequency rank
#5,171
“füllen” frequency rank
13543
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fülle füllen
Definition große Menge einen Behälter voll machen, eine Aushöhlung stopfen

Where the eye mixes Fülle and füllen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Fülle
6 ch
füllen

Why the eye confuses Fülle with füllen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fülle is [ˈfʏlə] while füllen is [ˈfʏlən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Fülle” sits inside “füllen”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13543, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fülle is recorded at frequency rank #8,372, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʏlə]. füllen is at rank #5,171, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʏlən].

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 13543, this pair ranks #1,957,315 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Fülle vs füllen

Shared letters: eflü. Private to "Fülle": -. Private to "füllen": n.

"Fülle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "füllen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Fülle" for "füllen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fülle" is a noun and "füllen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Fülle" or "füllen"?
"füllen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,171 in our German list, against #8,372 for "Fülle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Fülle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "füllen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,957,315 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fülle" and "füllen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Felge vs Fülle". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,957,315 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