Deutsch homophones
frei/Frey
"frei" is an adjective; "Frey" is a name - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #38 of 483 German groups.
Data vintage
Grammar picks the spelling
Same sound, different grammar: "frei" arrives as an adjective, while "Frey" is a name. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Single-letter fork: "frei" keeps i, "Frey" writes y at letter 4.
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across frei, Frey: efr. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
frei
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CCVV
Inventory efir · private i
Frey
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CCVV
Inventory efry · private y
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "frei" when you mean: unabhängig, nicht gefangen, nicht versklavt
- Write "Frey" when you mean: deutscher Nachname, Familienname
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.