fürchten

[ˈfʏʁçtn̩]

/[ˈfʏʁçtn̩]/ verb

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

The verdict

“fürchten” has 12 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #5,172. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,172
frequency rank, German
3,474
“F” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
12
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - etwas fürchten: vor etwas Angst (Furcht) haben

Corpus desk

Index DE-furchten · fürchten · German

fürchten · rank #5,172 · 12 variants · 12 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,172
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 12 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,474
  • PHOTO-FINISH füllen

Nearest frequency peer: füllen (-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 „fürchten“

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

corpus weight

What this shows „fürchten“ 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).

fürchten vs Fürsten
63% similar
fürchten vs fürchtet
88% similar
fürchten vs fürchtete
78% similar

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

Key facts for fürchten
PropertyValue
Headwordfürchten
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈfʏʁçtn̩]
Letters8
Frequency rank#5,172
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „fürchten“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).fürchtenliegt 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: „füllen“ (#5,171), „GB“ (#5,173), „Funk“ (#5,170). Unter 3,474 „F“-Lemmata liegt „fürchten“ bei #5,172. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around fürchten (IPA [ˈfʏʁçtn̩]), averb. Corpus frequency is #5,172 among 3,474 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for fürchten, with forms such as "ffürchten", "fücrhten", and "fürcchten". 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 12 confusable-pair relationships, "Fürsten", "fürchtet", "fürchtete", 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 its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is fürchten, spelled F-Ü-R-C-H-T-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    etwas fürchten: vor etwas Angst (Furcht) haben
  2. 2
    etwas Unangenehmes erwarten
  3. 3
    etwas fürchten: etwas achten, vor etwas Ehrfurcht haben
  4. 4
    sich (vor etwas) fürchten: (vor etwas) Angst (Furcht) haben

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Der Tapfre fürchtet weder Tod noch Teufel.
  2. „Wer Missstände in der Firma meldet oder sogar Strafanzeige erstattet, gilt oft als Netzbeschmutzer und muss arbeitsrechtliche Konsequenzen fürchten.“

Synonyms

sorgenängstigenachtenehrfürchtig

Antonyms

liebener-hoffenmissachtentrotzenspotten

This word in other languages

fear(English)temer(Español)redouter(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ffürchten
  • fücrhten
  • fürcchten
  • fürchetn
  • fürchhten
  • fürchtenn
  • fürchtne
  • fürchtten
  • fürcthen
  • fürhcten
  • fürrchten
  • üfrchten

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fürchten - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ffürchten1fücrhten2fürcchten1fürchetn2fürchhten1fürchtenn1fürchtne2fürchtten1
Edit distance from "fürchten"

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 "fürchten"?
"fürchten" is spelled F-Ü-R-C-H-T-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈfʏʁçtn̩].
What does "fürchten" mean?
As a verb, "fürchten" means: etwas fürchten: vor etwas Angst (Furcht) haben
What words are commonly confused with "fürchten"?
"fürchten" is commonly confused with "Fürsten", "fürchtet", "fürchtete". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "fürchten"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fürchten" is [ˈfʏʁçtn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "fürchten" come from?
"fürchten" 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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

geklappt#5,175Flaschen#5,168gewartet#5,177Erhebung#5,165

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

Dokument12 variantsKalender12 variantsbegegnen12 variantsMithilfe12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list