fangevsfindeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,859
“fange” frequency rank
#431
“finde” frequency rank
9290
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fange finde
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fangen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs finden

Where the eye mixes fange and finde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
fange
5 ch
finde

Look-alike desk: fange vs finde

A purely visual mix-up. fange ([ˈfaŋə]) and finde ([ˈfɪndə]) 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 9290, 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]. finde is at rank #431, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfɪndə].

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 9290, this pair ranks #1,980,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fange vs finde

Shared letters: efn. Private to "fange": ag. Private to "finde": di.

"fange" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "finde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fangeafnge · fagne · faneg · fangge · fannge · ffange · fnage
  • findeffinde · fidne · findde · fined · finnde · fnide · ifnde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fange" for "finde" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaŋə] versus [ˈfɪndə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "fange" or "finde" show up more?
"finde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #431 in our German list, against #8,859 for "fange". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fange" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "finde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,980,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fange" and "finde" 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 #1,980,659 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