quälen

/[ˈkvɛːlən]/ verb

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#15,188

in German word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

7

similar word pairs

quälen is aGermanverb. It means: absichtlich Schmerzen zufügen, leiden machen Pronounced [ˈkvɛːlən]. Often confused with queen and quält.

Key facts for quälen
PropertyValue
Headwordquälen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈkvɛːlən]
Letters6
Frequency rank#15,188
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of quälen in German word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for quälen is 6 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈkvɛːlən]. Corpus data places it at rank #15,188 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "absichtlich Schmerzen zufügen, leiden machen".

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for quälen, with forms such as "qquälen", "quläen", and "quäeln". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "queen", "quält", "Qualm", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is quälen, spelled Q-U-Ä-L-E-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    absichtlich Schmerzen zufügen, leiden machen

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: qquälen,quläen,quäeln,quälenn,quällen,quälne,qäulen,uqälen

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for quälen

Misspelling Variants of "quälen"

qquälen7quläen6quäeln6quälenn7quällen7quälne6qäulen6uqälen6
Misspelling Variants of "quälen"

Frequency rank: #15,188 in German

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "quälen"?
"quälen" is spelled Q-U-Ä-L-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈkvɛːlən].
What does "quälen" mean?
As a verb, "quälen" means: absichtlich Schmerzen zufügen, leiden machen
What words are commonly confused with "quälen"?
"quälen" is commonly confused with "queen", "quält", "Qualm". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "quälen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "quälen" is [ˈkvɛːlən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "quälen" come from?
"quälen" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter Q in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.