FährevsFehdeTell them apart

Which to use

“Fähre” and “Fehde” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,659
“Fähre” frequency rank
#30,552
“Fehde” frequency rank
41211
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fähre Fehde
Definition spezielles Schiff, das der (gewerbsmäßigen) Beförderung von Personen und/oder Transportmitteln von Ufer zu Ufer dient kämpferische Auseinandersetzung, um Ansprüche durchzusetzen; früher eine Streithandlung mit Waffengewalt, heute in übertragenem Sinne länger währende Auseinandersetzung mit anderen Mitteln, zum Beispiel mit dem gesprochenen Wort

Where the eye mixes Fähre and Fehde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Fähre and Fehde follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Fähre
5 ch
Fehde

Look-alike desk: Fähre vs Fehde

A purely visual mix-up. Fähre ([ˈfɛːʁə]) and Fehde ([ˈfeːdə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41211, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fähre is recorded at frequency rank #10,659, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛːʁə]. Fehde is at rank #30,552, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfeːdə].

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 41211, this pair ranks #1,486,139 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Fähre vs Fehde

Shared letters: efh. Private to "Fähre": rä. Private to "Fehde": d.

"Fähre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Fehde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fehde ← efhde · fedhe · fehdde · fehed · fehhde · ffehde · fhede

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Fähre" and "Fehde" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɛːʁə] versus [ˈfeːdə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Fähre" or "Fehde"?
"Fähre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,659 in our German list, against #30,552 for "Fehde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Fähre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fehde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,486,139 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fähre" and "Fehde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fehde vs Felge". 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 #1,486,139 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