father

[ˈfɑːðə(ɹ)]

/[ˈfɑːðə(ɹ)]/ noun

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

The verdict

“father” has 9 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #34,650. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#34,650
frequency rank, German
3,474
“F” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - männlicher Elternteil; Vater

Corpus desk

Index DE-father · father · German

father · rank #34,650 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #34,650
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,474
  • PHOTO-FINISH fantastisches

Nearest frequency peer: fantastisches (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „father“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „father“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

father vs früher
67% similar
father vs Futter
50% similar
father vs fetter
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for father
PropertyValue
Headwordfather
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈfɑːðə(ɹ)]
Letters6
Frequency rank#34,650
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „father“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).fatherliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „fantastisches“ (#34,649), „feet“ (#34,651), „Familienpolitik“ (#34,648). Unter 3,474 „F“-Lemmata liegt „father“ bei #34,650. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around father (IPA [ˈfɑːðə(ɹ)]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #34,650 among 3,474 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for father, with forms such as "afther", "fahter", and "fatehr". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "früher", "Futter", "fetter", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is father, spelled F-A-T-H-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    männlicher Elternteil; Vater
  2. 2
    christlicher Geistlicher, Priester
  3. 3
    Anrede für einen älteren Mann

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how father appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. My father has brown eyes.

Synonyms

daddaddypriest

Antonyms

mother

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • afther
  • fahter
  • fatehr
  • fatherr
  • fathher
  • fathre
  • fatther
  • ffather
  • ftaher

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of father - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

afther2fahter2fatehr2fatherr1fathher1fathre2fatther1ffather1
Edit distance from "father"

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 "father"?
"father" is spelled F-A-T-H-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈfɑːðə(ɹ)].
What does "father" mean?
As a noun, "father" means: männlicher Elternteil; Vater
What words are commonly confused with "father"?
"father" is commonly confused with "früher", "Futter", "fetter". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "father"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "father" is [ˈfɑːðə(ɹ)]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "father" come from?
"father" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "father", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Faches#34,645Ganges#34,673entkam#34,619Dülmen#34,597

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Etikette9 variantsernennt9 variantsGondel9 variantsdivers9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list