Which to use
“fünf” is a num and “fürn” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #442
- “fünf” frequency rank
- #16,708
- “fürn” frequency rank
- 17150
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fünf | fürn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | fünf, die Kardinalzahl zwischen vier und sechs | Kontraktion aus „für“ und „den“, wobei „den“ Akkusativ Singular Maskulinum des Definitartikels ist |
Where the eye mixes fünf and fürn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fünf is [fʏnf] while fürn is [fyːɐ̯n]. 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 (num vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fünf is recorded at frequency rank #442, classified as anum, pronounced [fʏnf]. fürn is at rank #16,708, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [fyːɐ̯n].
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 17150, this pair ranks #1,929,927 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fünf vs fürn
Shared letters: fnü. Private to "fünf": -. Private to "fürn": r.
"fünf" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "fürn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC