fähigevsFeigeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fähige is a adjective, Feige is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#31,051
“fähige” frequency rank
#11,425
“Feige” frequency rank
42476
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fähige Feige
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fähig essbare, süße, fleischige Frucht des Feigenbaums

Where the eye mixes fähige and Feige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fähige runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against Feige's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
fähige
5 ch
Feige

Look-alike desk: fähige vs Feige

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fähige is [ˈfɛːɪɡə] while Feige is [ˈfaɪ̯ɡə]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42476, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fähige is recorded at frequency rank #31,051, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɛːɪɡə]. Feige is at rank #11,425, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaɪ̯ɡə].

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 42476, this pair ranks #1,448,126 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fähige vs Feige

Shared letters: efgi. Private to "fähige": hä. Private to "Feige": -.

"fähige" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "Feige" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Feige ← efige · fegie · feieg · feigge · ffeige · fiege

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fähige" and "Feige" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fähige" is an adjective and "Feige" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fähige" vs "Feige" - which ranks higher?
"Feige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,425 in our German list, against #31,051 for "fähige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fähige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Feige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,448,126 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fähige" and "Feige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fähige vs fällige". 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 #1,448,126 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