Which to use
“gefielen” is a verb and “Gefühlen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,956
- “gefielen” frequency rank
- #8,719
- “Gefühlen” frequency rank
- 48675
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gefielen | Gefühlen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs gefallen | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Gefühl |
Where the eye mixes gefielen and Gefühlen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gefielen (CVCVVCVC) and Gefühlen (CVCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between gefielen and Gefühlen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gefielen is [ɡəˈfiːlən] while Gefühlen is [ɡəˈfyːlən]. 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 48675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gefielen is recorded at frequency rank #39,956, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈfiːlən]. Gefühlen is at rank #8,719, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈfyːlən].
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 48675, this pair ranks #1,239,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gefielen vs Gefühlen
Shared letters: efgln. Private to "gefielen": i. Private to "Gefühlen": hü.
"gefielen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC · "Gefühlen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- gefielen ← egfielen · gefeilen · geffielen · gefieeln · gefielenn · gefiellen · gefielne · gefileen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gefielen" for "Gefühlen" ever safe?
Which is more common, "gefielen" or "Gefühlen"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "gefielen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Gefühlen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,239,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gefielen" and "Gefühlen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gefielen vs Gefilden". 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 #1,239,797 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.