FachvsfadeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Fach is a noun, fade is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Fach” is a noun and “fade” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,440
“Fach” frequency rank
#37,506
“fade” frequency rank
40946
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fach fade
Definition der durch das Balkengerüst beziehungsweise die tragenden Balken gebildete und mit Lehm oder Ziegeln ausgefüllte Zwischenraum einer Fachwerkwand (auch Gefach) ohne oder mit nur wenig Geschmack

Where the eye mixes Fach and fade

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Fach
4 ch
fade

Why the eye confuses Fach with fade

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fach is [fax] while fade is [ˈfaːdə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40946, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fach is recorded at frequency rank #3,440, classified as anoun, pronounced [fax]. fade is at rank #37,506, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfaːdə].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 40946, this pair ranks #1,493,778 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Fach vs fade

Shared letters: af. Private to "Fach": ch. Private to "fade": de.

"Fach" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "fade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fachafch · facch · fachh · fahc · fcah · ffach
  • fadeafde · fadde · faed · fdae · ffade

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Fach" and "fade" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fach" is a noun and "fade" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Fach" or "fade" show up more?
"Fach" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,440 in our German list, against #37,506 for "fade". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Fach" and "fade" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Fach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,493,778 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fach" and "fade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fade vs flame". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,493,778 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list