fangevsfangenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#8,859
“fange” frequency rank
#4,270
“fangen” frequency rank
13129
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fange fangen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fangen jemanden seiner Freiheit berauben

Where the eye mixes fange and fangen

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

5 ch
fange
6 ch
fangen

Look-alike desk: fange vs fangen

A purely visual mix-up. fange ([ˈfaŋə]) and fangen ([ˈfaŋən]) 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 extra letter(s) - “fange” sits inside “fangen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13129, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fange is recorded at frequency rank #8,859, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfaŋə]. fangen is at rank #4,270, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfaŋən].

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 13129, this pair ranks #1,959,931 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fange vs fangen

Shared letters: aefgn. Private to "fange": -. Private to "fangen": -.

"fange" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "fangen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fange ← afnge · fagne · faneg · fangge · fannge · ffange · fnage
  • fangen ← afngen · fagnen · fanegn · fangenn · fanggen · fangne · fanngen · ffangen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fange" and "fangen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaŋə] versus [ˈfaŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fange" or "fangen"?
"fangen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,270 in our German list, against #8,859 for "fange". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fange" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fangen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,959,931 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fange" and "fangen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fange 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 #1,959,931 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