NotfallvsNotfällenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,096
“Notfall” frequency rank
#33,209
“Notfällen” frequency rank
39305
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Notfall Notfällen
Definition plötzliche, gefährliche Situation Dativ Plural des Substantivs Notfall

Where the eye mixes Notfall and Notfällen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Notfall
9 ch
Notfällen

Look-alike desk: Notfall vs Notfällen

A purely visual mix-up. Notfall ([ˈnoːtˌfal]) and Notfällen ([ˈnoːtˌfɛlən]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39305, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Notfall is recorded at frequency rank #6,096, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈnoːtˌfal]. Notfällen is at rank #33,209, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈnoːtˌfɛlən].

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 39305, this pair ranks #1,540,437 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Notfall vs Notfällen

Shared letters: flnot. Private to "Notfall": a. Private to "Notfällen": .

"Notfall" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "Notfällen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Notfallnnotfall · noftall · notafll · notfal · notffall · notflal · nottfall · ntofall

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Notfall" for "Notfällen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnoːtˌfal] versus [ˈnoːtˌfɛlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Notfall" or "Notfällen"?
"Notfall" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,096 in our German list, against #33,209 for "Notfällen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Notfall" and "Notfällen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Notfall" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Notfällen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,540,437 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Notfall" and "Notfällen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Notfälle vs Notfällen". 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 #1,540,437 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