ÜberfällevsüberfülltTell them apart

Quick tell: Überfälle is a noun, überfüllt is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#28,967
“Überfälle” frequency rank
#19,104
“überfüllt” frequency rank
48071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Überfälle überfüllt
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Überfall mit mehr Dingen/Personen versehen/belegt als (bequem) Platz finden

Where the eye mixes Überfälle and überfüllt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Überfälle (VCVCCVCCV) and überfüllt (VCVCCVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
Überfälle
9 ch
überfüllt

Look-alike desk: Überfälle vs überfüllt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Überfälle is [ˈyːbɐˌfɛlə] while überfüllt is [yːbɐˈfʏlt]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Überfälle is recorded at frequency rank #28,967, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈyːbɐˌfɛlə]. überfüllt is at rank #19,104, tagged as anadj, pronounced [yːbɐˈfʏlt].

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 48071, this pair ranks #1,261,850 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Überfälle vs überfüllt

Shared letters: beflrü. Private to "Überfälle": ä. Private to "überfüllt": t.

"Überfälle" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCV  ·  "überfüllt" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Überfälle" and "überfüllt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Überfälle" is a noun and "überfüllt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Überfälle" or "überfüllt"?
"überfüllt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,104 in our German list, against #28,967 for "Überfälle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Überfälle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "überfüllt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,261,850 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Überfälle" and "überfüllt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Überfälle vs überfüllte". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,261,850 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