Gefühle vs gefühlten, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Gefühle” is a noun and “gefühlten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,339
“Gefühle” frequency rank: #23,528
“gefühlten” frequency rank: 25867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Gefühle	gefühlten
Definition	Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Gefühl	Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gefühlt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Gefühle and gefühlten apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

Gefühle

9 ch

gefühlten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gefühle is [ɡəˈfyːlə] while gefühlten is [ɡəˈfyːltn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gefühle is recorded at frequency rank #2,339, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈfyːlə]. gefühlten is at rank #23,528, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈfyːltn̩].

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 25867, this pair ranks #1,826,823 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gefühle vs gefühlten

Shared letters: efghlü. Private to "Gefühle": -. Private to "gefühlten": nt.

"Gefühle" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "gefühlten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Frequency comparison

Gefühle#2,339

gefühlten#23,528

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gefühle" and "gefühlten" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gefühle" is a noun and "gefühlten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Gefühle" or "gefühlten"?

"Gefühle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,339 in our German list, against #23,528 for "gefühlten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Gefühle vs gefühlten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Gefühle”; for an adjective, it's “gefühlten”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Gefühle” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable