fehlgehen
German, verb[ˈfeːlˌɡeːən]
fehlgehen is spelled F-E-H-L-G-E-H-E-N (9 letters) and appears about once in every 49 million words in written German, the 423,336th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Fehlgehen is a German verb meaning “to be mistaken” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “sich täuschen”.
What does fehlgehen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to be mistaken
- 2
to miss
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. sich täuschen 2. beim Schreiten/Laufen den falschen Weg einschlagen 3. nicht funktionieren, nicht den Zweck erfüllen oder das Ziel erreichen
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of fehlgehen
- geht fehl present singular third-person
- ging fehl past
- fehlgegangen participle past
- sein auxiliary
- 7 strong
- fehlgehend participle present
- fehlzugehen infinitive infinitive-zu
- gehe fehl first-person indicative present
- gehen fehl first-person indicative plural
- gehst fehl indicative present second-person
- gehest fehl second-person singular subjunctive
- gehet fehl plural second-person subjunctive
- gingen fehl first-person indicative plural
- ginge fehl first-person singular subjunctive
- gingst fehl indicative preterite second-person
- gingt fehl indicative plural preterite
- gingest fehl second-person singular subjunctive
- ginget fehl plural second-person subjunctive
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce fehlgehen?
- [ˈfeːlˌɡeːən]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is fehlgehen in German?
fehlgehen appears about once in every 49 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).