FakesvsfateTell them apart

Which to use

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

#47,380
“Fakes” frequency rank
#35,761
“fate” frequency rank
83141
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fakes fate
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Fake die (eher leidlichen) Dinge oder Umstände, die jemandem widerfahren; Geschick, Schicksal

Where the eye mixes Fakes and fate

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Fakes runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against fate's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Fakes
4 ch
fate

Visual trap between Fakes and fate

A purely visual mix-up. Fakes ([fɛɪ̯ks]) and fate ([feɪt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83141, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fakes is recorded at frequency rank #47,380, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɛɪ̯ks]. fate is at rank #35,761, tagged as anoun, pronounced [feɪt].

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 83141, this pair ranks #144,964 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Fakes vs fate

Shared letters: aef. Private to "Fakes": ks. Private to "fate": t.

"Fakes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "fate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fakes ← afkes · faeks · fakess · fakkes · fakse · ffakes · fkaes
  • fate ← afte · fatte · ffate · ftae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Fakes" and "fate" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɪ̯ks] versus [feɪt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Fakes" or "fate"?
"fate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,761 in our German list, against #47,380 for "Fakes". 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 "Fakes" and "fate" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Fakes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #144,964 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fakes" and "fate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fachs vs Fakes". 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 #144,964 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