fakevsfeeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,080
“fake” frequency rank
#14,799
“fee” frequency rank
19879
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fake fee
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs faken Entgelt, Lohn, Gage, Honorar

Letter map: fake vs fee

Shared letters muted; letters that set fake and fee apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
fake
3 ch
fee

Grammar separator: fake vs fee

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fake is averb and feeanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fake is recorded at frequency rank #5,080, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfɛɪ̯kə]. fee is at rank #14,799, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 19879, this pair ranks #1,903,637 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fake vs fee

Shared letters: ef. Private to "fake": ak. Private to "fee": -.

"fake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fee" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fakeafke · faek · fakke · ffake · fkae

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fake" and "fee" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fake" is a verb and "fee" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fake" vs "fee" - which ranks higher?
"fake" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,080 in our German list, against #14,799 for "fee". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "fake" and "fee".

  • Full dictionary entry for "fake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fee" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,903,637 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fake" and "fee" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fee vs puzzles". 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 #1,903,637 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