prallvsprallenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: prall is a adjective, prallen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“prall” is an adjective and “prallen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,077
“prall” frequency rank
#21,026
“prallen” frequency rank
45103
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prall prallen
Definition ganz ausgefüllt, geweitet, gedehnt mit großer Wucht auf/gegen etwas stoßen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set prall and prallen apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
prall
7 ch
prallen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prall is [pʁal] while prallen is [ˈpʁalən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “prall” sits inside “prallen”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45103, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prall is recorded at frequency rank #24,077, classified as anadj, pronounced [pʁal]. prallen is at rank #21,026, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpʁalən].

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 45103, this pair ranks #1,364,373 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prall vs prallen

Shared letters: alpr. Private to "prall": -. Private to "prallen": en.

"prall" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "prallen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prallparll · pprall · pral · prlal · prrall · rpall
  • prallenparllen · pprallen · praleln · pralen · prallenn · prallne · prlalen · prrallen

Frequency comparison

prall#24,077
prallen#21,026

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prall" and "prallen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prall" is an adjective and "prallen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "prall" or "prallen"?
"prallen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,026 in our German list, against #24,077 for "prall". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering prall vs prallen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list