fehlen
[ˈfeːlən]
The verdict
“fehlen” is a regularly-used German word, ranked #1,415 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #1,415
- frequency rank, German
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - nicht vorhanden sein
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 | fehlen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈfeːlən] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,415 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fehlen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for fehlen is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈfeːlən]. Corpus data places it at rank #1,415 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for fehlen, with forms such as "efhlen", "feheln", and "fehhlen". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fehlt", "fühle", "Felle", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is fehlen, spelled F-E-H-L-E-N.
Definition
- 1nicht vorhanden sein
- 2falsch handeln, sich irren
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: efhlen,feheln,fehhlen,fehlenn,fehllen,fehlne,felhen,ffehlen,fhelen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fehlen - 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 "fehlen"?
What does "fehlen" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "fehlen"?
How do you pronounce "fehlen"?
What language does "fehlen" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “fehlen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is F-E-H-L-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈfeːlən] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fehlt” - see the side-by-side comparison. fehlen vs fehlt
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
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.