umfahren
[ʊmˈfaːʁən]
The verdict
“umfahren” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #31,835 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #31,835
- frequency rank, German
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - um etwas oder um jemanden herumfahren; ausweichen
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 | umfahren |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ʊmˈfaːʁən] |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #31,835 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “umfahren” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for umfahren is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ʊmˈfaːʁən]. Corpus data places it at rank #31,835 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "um etwas oder um jemanden herumfahren; ausweichen".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for umfahren, with forms such as "mufahren", "ufmahren", and "umafhren". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "umfassen", "umfallen", "umkehren", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is umfahren, spelled U-M-F-A-H-R-E-N.
Definition
- 1um etwas oder um jemanden herumfahren; ausweichen
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mufahren,ufmahren,umafhren,umfahern,umfahhren,umfahrenn,umfahrne,umfahrren,umfarhen,umffahren,umfharen,ummfahren
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of umfahren - 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.
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 "umfahren"?
What does "umfahren" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "umfahren"?
How do you pronounce "umfahren"?
What language does "umfahren" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “umfahren”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is U-M-F-A-H-R-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ʊmˈfaːʁən] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “umfassen” - see the side-by-side comparison. umfahren vs umfassen
- 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.