FürstvsFürstenTell them apart

Which to use

“Fürst” and “Fürsten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,834
“Fürst” frequency rank
#7,320
“Fürsten” frequency rank
13154
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fürst Fürsten
Definition hoher Adliger im Rang zwischen Graf und Herzog Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Fürst

Where the eye mixes Fürst and Fürsten

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

5 ch
Fürst
7 ch
Fürsten

Why the eye confuses Fürst with Fürsten

A purely visual mix-up. Fürst ([fʏʁst]) and Fürsten ([ˈfʏʁstn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Fürst” sits inside “Fürsten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13154, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fürst is recorded at frequency rank #5,834, classified as anoun, pronounced [fʏʁst]. Fürsten is at rank #7,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʏʁstn̩].

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 13154, this pair ranks #1,959,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Fürst vs Fürsten

Shared letters: frstü. Private to "Fürst": -. Private to "Fürsten": en.

"Fürst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Fürsten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Fürst" and "Fürsten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fʏʁst] versus [ˈfʏʁstn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Fürst" or "Fürsten"?
"Fürst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,834 in our German list, against #7,320 for "Fürsten". 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 "Fürst" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fürsten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,959,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fürst" and "Fürsten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fist vs Fürst". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,959,780 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