failed

[…]

/[…]/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“failed” is uncommon German (frequency #50,448 among 45,736 “F” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#50,448
frequency rank, German
45,736
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs fail

Key facts for failed
PropertyValue
Headwordfailed
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[…]
Letters6
Frequency rank#50,448
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “failed” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). failed lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

failed is uncommon German at frequency #50,448 among 45,736 “F” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed […]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs fail".

No generated misspelling entries exist for failed in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is failed, spelled F-A-I-L-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs fail

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "failed"?
"failed" is spelled F-A-I-L-E-D. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "failed" mean?
As a verb, "failed" means: Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs fail
How do you pronounce "failed"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "failed" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "failed" come from?
"failed" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 “failed”

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

  • The one correct German spelling is F-A-I-L-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as […] (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

Other uncommon German words near this rank

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