von
[fɔn]
The verdict
“von” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #11 in German word frequency and used as a preposition.
- #11
- frequency rank, German
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Ursprung räumlicher oder zeitlicher Veränderung, Herkunft, Gegenstand der Betrachtung, Ursache, sonstige Verhältnisse
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 | von |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Preposition |
| IPA | [fɔn] |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “von” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for von is 3 letters long, classified as a preposition, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [fɔn]. Corpus data places it at rank #11 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for von in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "VW", "VR", "VP", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is von, spelled V-O-N.
Definition
- 1Ursprung räumlicher oder zeitlicher Veränderung, Herkunft, Gegenstand der Betrachtung, Ursache, sonstige Verhältnisse
- 2getrennt stehender Namenszusatz vor Familiennamen (insbesondere des ehemaligen Adels) und Adelsprädikat (bei Namen adeliger Personen)
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
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Using “von”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is V-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [fɔn] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “VW” - see the side-by-side comparison. von vs VW
- 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.