schwerfallen

[ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌfalən]

/[ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌfalən]/ verb

The verdict

“schwerfallen” is uncommon German (frequency #69,676 among 8,027 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#69,676
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - große Schwierigkeiten, große Mühe verursachen

Corpus desk

Index DE-schwerfallen · schwerfallen · German

schwerfallen · rank #69,676 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #69,676
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH Schwärmerei

Nearest frequency peer: Schwärmerei (+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.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „schwerfallen“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „schwerfallen“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for schwerfallen
PropertyValue
Headwordschwerfallen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌfalən]
Letters12
Frequency rank#69,676
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „schwerfallen“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.schwerfallenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Schwärmerei“ (#69,677), „Schwarte“ (#69,674), „Schutzhütte“ (#69,673). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „schwerfallen“ bei #69,676. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

schwerfallen is uncommon German at frequency #69,676 among 8,027 “S” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌfalən]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "große Schwierigkeiten, große Mühe verursachen".

Zero misspellings are on record for schwerfallen in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is schwerfallen, spelled S-C-H-W-E-R-F-A-L-L-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    große Schwierigkeiten, große Mühe verursachen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „«Nu macht bloß keine Trauerfeier», sagte er derb, obwohl ihm das Schlucken schwerfiel.“
  2. „Er tut, was uns Menschen arg schwerfällt, er schweigt und wirkt.“

Antonyms

This word in other languages

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 "schwerfallen"?
"schwerfallen" is spelled S-C-H-W-E-R-F-A-L-L-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌfalən].
What does "schwerfallen" mean?
As a verb, "schwerfallen" means: große Schwierigkeiten, große Mühe verursachen
How do you pronounce "schwerfallen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "schwerfallen" is [ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌfalən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "schwerfallen" come from?
"schwerfallen" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "schwerfallen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list