fasstenvsForstenConfusable pair

Quick tell: fassten is a verb, Forsten is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fassten” is a verb and “Forsten” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,481
“fassten” frequency rank
#32,529
“Forsten” frequency rank
75010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fassten Forsten
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fassen Plural 1: **Dativ Plural des Substantivs Forst

Where the eye mixes fassten and Forsten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
fassten
7 ch
Forsten

Look-alike desk: fassten vs Forsten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fassten is [ˈfastn̩] while Forsten is [ˈfɔʁstn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fassten is recorded at frequency rank #42,481, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfastn̩]. Forsten is at rank #32,529, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈfɔʁstn̩].

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 75010, this pair ranks #318,760 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fassten vs Forsten

Shared letters: efnst. Private to "fassten": a. Private to "Forsten": or.

"fassten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "Forsten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fasstenafssten · fassetn · fasstenn · fasstne · fasstten · fastsen · faßten · ffassten
  • Forstenfforsten · forrsten · forsetn · forssten · forstenn · forstne · forstten · fortsen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fassten" for "Forsten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fassten" is a verb and "Forsten" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "fassten" or "Forsten" show up more?
"Forsten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,529 in our German list, against #42,481 for "fassten". 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 "fassten" and "Forsten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fassten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Forsten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,760 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fassten" and "Forsten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fässern vs fassten". 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 #318,760 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