Gefühls vs gefühlt, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Gefühls” is a noun and “gefühlt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,203
“Gefühls” frequency rank: #3,314
“gefühlt” frequency rank: 46517
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Gefühls	gefühlt
Definition	Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Gefühl	Partizip Perfekt des Verbs fühlen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Gefühls and gefühlt apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

Gefühls

7 ch

gefühlt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gefühls is [ɡəˈfyːls] while gefühlt is [ɡəˈfyːlt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “Gefühls” becomes t in “gefühlt”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46517, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gefühls is recorded at frequency rank #43,203, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈfyːls]. gefühlt is at rank #3,314, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈfyːlt].

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 46517, this pair ranks #1,316,325 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Gefühls vs gefühlt

Shared letters: efghlü. Private to "Gefühls": s. Private to "gefühlt": t.

"Gefühls" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC · "gefühlt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Frequency comparison

Gefühls#43,203

gefühlt#3,314

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gefühls" and "gefühlt" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gefühls" is a noun and "gefühlt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Gefühls" or "gefühlt"?

"gefühlt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,314 in our German list, against #43,203 for "Gefühls". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Gefühls vs gefühlt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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