der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm

/[deːɐ̯ ˈfʁyːə ˈfoːɡl̩ fɛŋt deːn vʊʁm]/ phrase

The verdict

“der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm” is outside the top-ranked German vocabulary, used as a phrase - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency German
30
letters

Dominant Wiktionary sense: wer rechtzeitig erscheint, erhält den Fang oder den Zuschlag

Key facts for der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm
PropertyValue
Headwordder frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm
LanguageGerman
Part of speechPhrase
IPA[deːɐ̯ ˈfʁyːə ˈfoːɡl̩ fɛŋt deːn vʊʁm]
Letters30
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm” sits in German frequency

der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm falls outside the top-100,000 ranked German words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm is 30 letters long, classified as a phrase, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [deːɐ̯ ˈfʁyːə ˈfoːɡl̩ fɛŋt deːn vʊʁm]. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "wer rechtzeitig erscheint, erhält den Fang oder den Zuschlag".

No misspelling variants are generated for der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm, spelled D-E-R- -F-R-Ü-H-E- -V-O-G-E-L- -F-Ä-N-G-T- -D-E-N- -W-U-R-M, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    wer rechtzeitig erscheint, erhält den Fang oder den Zuschlag

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm, German word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/de/wort/der-fruhe-vogel-fangt-den-wurm

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm"?
"der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm" is spelled D-E-R- -F-R-Ü-H-E- -V-O-G-E-L- -F-Ä-N-G-T- -D-E-N- -W-U-R-M. The IPA pronunciation is [deːɐ̯ ˈfʁyːə ˈfoːɡl̩ fɛŋt deːn vʊʁm].
What does "der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm" mean?
As a phrase, "der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm" means: wer rechtzeitig erscheint, erhält den Fang oder den Zuschlag
How do you pronounce "der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm" is [deːɐ̯ ˈfʁyːə ˈfoːɡl̩ fɛŋt deːn vʊʁm]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm" come from?
"der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is D-E-R- -F-R-Ü-H-E- -V-O-G-E-L- -F-Ä-N-G-T- -D-E-N- -W-U-R-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [deːɐ̯ ˈfʁyːə ˈfoːɡl̩ fɛŋt deːn vʊʁm] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter D in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

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