faul
[faʊ̯l]
The verdict
“faul” has 5 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #5,826. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #5,826
- frequency rank, German
- 3,474
- “F” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - nicht mehr frisch; verrottet, verfault
Corpus desk
Index DE-faul · faul · German
faul · rank #5,826 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #5,826
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,474
- PHOTO-FINISH ey
Nearest frequency peer: ey (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “faul”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Engländer
Engländer
94,178 corpus weight
- entscheiden…
entscheidenden
94,177 corpus weight
- ey
ey
94,176 corpus weight
- faul
faul
94,175 corpus weight
- Feedback
Feedback
94,174 corpus weight
- Fieber
Fieber
94,173 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “faul” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | faul |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [faʊ̯l] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #5,826 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Wo “faul” in der deutschen Häufigkeit sitzt
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around faul (IPA [faʊ̯l]), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #5,826 among 3,474 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for faul, with forms such as "aful", "falu", and "faull". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fl", "für", "fun", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is faul, spelled F-A-U-L.
Definition
- 1nicht mehr frisch; verrottet, verfault
- 2keine Lust beziehungsweise Motivation besitzend, sich einer anstrengend erscheinenden Angelegenheit zu widmen
- 3falsch, fragwürdig, verdächtig, problematisch oder nicht in Ordnung
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how faul appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Es roch stark nach Schwefelwasserstoff, das ist der typische Geruch fauler Eier.
Um ein Ei als faul zu erkennen, muss man nicht selber Eier legen können.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- aful
- falu
- faull
- ffaul
- fual
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of faul - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "faul"?
What does "faul" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "faul"?
How do you pronounce "faul"?
What language does "faul" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "faul", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "faul". Here's where to go from here.
- "faul" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "fl". View pair
- 5 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #5,826 among German headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more German words in the "F" letter cohort. F–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.