Which to use
“Farbe” is a noun and “farbig” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,592
- “Farbe” frequency rank
- #20,245
- “farbig” frequency rank
- 21837
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Farbe | farbig |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ein bestimmter Abschnitt des sichtbaren Lichts im Spektrum der elektromagnetischen Wellen | mit einer oder mehreren Farben versehen; nicht schwarz, weiß oder grau |
Where the eye mixes Farbe and farbig
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Farbe vs farbig
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Farbe is [ˈfaʁbə] while farbig is [ˈfaʁbɪç]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21837, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Farbe is recorded at frequency rank #1,592, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaʁbə]. farbig is at rank #20,245, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfaʁbɪç].
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 21837, this pair ranks #1,881,555 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Farbe vs farbig
Shared letters: abfr. Private to "Farbe": e. Private to "farbig": gi.
"Farbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "farbig" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Farbe" for "farbig" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Farbe" or "farbig" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Farbe" and "farbig" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Farbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "farbig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,881,555 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Farbe" and "farbig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Färber vs farbig". 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 #1,881,555 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.