füllenvsFunkenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,171
“füllen” frequency rank
#11,236
“Funken” frequency rank
16407
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature füllen Funken
Definition einen Behälter voll machen, eine Aushöhlung stopfen glühendes Teilchen einer Materie

Where the eye mixes füllen and Funken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
füllen
6 ch
Funken

Visual trap between füllen and Funken

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: füllen is [ˈfʏlən] while Funken is [ˈfʊŋkn̩]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16407, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

füllen is recorded at frequency rank #5,171, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfʏlən]. Funken is at rank #11,236, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʊŋkn̩].

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 16407, this pair ranks #1,936,108 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of füllen vs Funken

Shared letters: efn. Private to "füllen": . Private to "Funken": ku.

"füllen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Funken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Funkenffunken · fnuken · fuknen · funekn · funkenn · funkken · funkne · funnken

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "füllen" and "Funken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "füllen" is a verb and "Funken" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "füllen" or "Funken" show up more?
"füllen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,171 in our German list, against #11,236 for "Funken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "füllen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Funken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,936,108 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "füllen" and "Funken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fügten vs Funken". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,936,108 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