FasernvsFaxenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,880
“Fasern” frequency rank
#34,090
“Faxen” frequency rank
49970
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fasern Faxen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Faser Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Faxe

Where the eye mixes Fasern and Faxen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Fasern runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against Faxen's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Fasern
5 ch
Faxen

Visual trap between Fasern and Faxen

A purely visual mix-up. Fasern ([ˈfaːzɐn]) and Faxen ([ˈfaksn̩]) 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 49970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fasern is recorded at frequency rank #15,880, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaːzɐn]. Faxen is at rank #34,090, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaksn̩].

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 49970, this pair ranks #1,191,536 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Fasern vs Faxen

Shared letters: aefn. Private to "Fasern": rs. Private to "Faxen": x.

"Fasern" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "Faxen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fasern ← afsern · faesrn · fasenr · fasernn · faserrn · fasren · fassern · ffasern
  • Faxen ← afxen · faexn · faxenn · faxne · faxxen · ffaxen · fxaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Fasern" for "Faxen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaːzɐn] versus [ˈfaksn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Fasern" or "Faxen" show up more?
"Fasern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,880 in our German list, against #34,090 for "Faxen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Fasern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Faxen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,191,536 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fasern" and "Faxen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Faxen vs fixer". 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 #1,191,536 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