Which to use
“gefiel” is a verb and “Gefühl” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,553
- “gefiel” frequency rank
- #762
- “Gefühl” frequency rank
- 10315
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gefiel | Gefühl |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs gefallen | das subjektive Erleben von Erregung und hirnchemischer Aktivität |
Where the eye mixes gefiel and Gefühl
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gefiel (CVCVVC) and Gefühl (CVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses gefiel with Gefühl
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gefiel is [ɡəˈfiːl] while Gefühl is [ɡəˈfyːl]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gefiel is recorded at frequency rank #9,553, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈfiːl]. Gefühl is at rank #762, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈfyːl].
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 10315, this pair ranks #1,975,745 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gefiel vs Gefühl
Shared letters: efgl. Private to "gefiel": i. Private to "Gefühl": hü.
"gefiel" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "Gefühl" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- gefiel ← egfiel · gefeil · geffiel · gefiell · gefile · geifel · gfeiel · ggefiel
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gefiel" for "Gefühl" ever safe?
Frequency check: "gefiel" vs "Gefühl" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "gefiel" and "Gefühl" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gefiel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Gefühl" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,975,745 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gefiel" and "Gefühl" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gefiel vs gefielen". 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 #1,975,745 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.