fassevsfateWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fasse is a verb, fate is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fasse” is a verb and “fate” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,539
“fasse” frequency rank
#35,761
“fate” frequency rank
54300
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fasse fate
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fassen die (eher leidlichen) Dinge oder Umstände, die jemandem widerfahren; Geschick, Schicksal

Where the eye mixes fasse and fate

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

5 ch
fasse
4 ch
fate

Why the eye confuses fasse with fate

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fasse is [ˈfasə] while fate is [feɪt]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54300, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fasse is recorded at frequency rank #18,539, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfasə]. 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 54300, this pair ranks #1,024,204 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fasse vs fate

Shared letters: aef. Private to "fasse": s. Private to "fate": t.

"fasse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "fate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fasse ← afsse · fase · fases · faße · ffasse · fsase
  • fate ← afte · fatte · ffate · ftae

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fasse" and "fate" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fasse" is a verb and "fate" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "fasse" or "fate" show up more?
"fasse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,539 in our German list, against #35,761 for "fate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "fasse" and "fate" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fasse" 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 #1,024,204 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fasse" and "fate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fate vs flame". 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 #1,024,204 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