FadenvsfragenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Faden is a noun, fragen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Faden” is a noun and “fragen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,532
“Faden” frequency rank
#312
“fragen” frequency rank
6844
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Faden fragen
Definition aus Fasern gedrehter, dünner und langer Körper eine Auskunft erbitten, um eine Auskunft bitten, eine Frage stellen

Where the eye mixes Faden and fragen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Faden
6 ch
fragen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Faden is [ˈfaːdn̩] while fragen is [ˈfʁaːɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6844, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Faden is recorded at frequency rank #6,532, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaːdn̩]. fragen is at rank #312, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʁaːɡn̩].

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 6844, this pair ranks #1,990,274 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Faden vs fragen

Shared letters: aefn. Private to "Faden": d. Private to "fragen": gr.

"Faden" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "fragen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fadenafden · fadden · fadenn · fadne · faedn · fdaen · ffaden
  • fragenfargen · ffragen · fraegn · fragenn · fraggen · fragne · frgaen · frragen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Faden" and "fragen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Faden" is a noun and "fragen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Faden" or "fragen"?
"fragen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #312 in our German list, against #6,532 for "Faden". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list