Which to use
“fatal” and “fatale” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,885
- “fatal” frequency rank
- #24,712
- “fatale” frequency rank
- 42597
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fatal | fatale |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | unangenehm, verhängnisvoll, peinlich | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fatal |
Where the eye mixes fatal and fatale
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fatal vs fatale
A purely visual mix-up. fatal ([faˈtaːl]) and fatale ([faˈtaːlə]) 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 extra letter(s) - “fatal” sits inside “fatale”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42597, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fatal is recorded at frequency rank #17,885, classified as anadj, pronounced [faˈtaːl]. fatale is at rank #24,712, tagged as anadj, pronounced [faˈtaːlə].
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 42597, this pair ranks #1,444,445 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fatal vs fatale
Shared letters: aflt. Private to "fatal": -. Private to "fatale": e.
"fatal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "fatale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fatal" and "fatale" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fatal" or "fatale"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fatal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fatale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,444,445 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fatal" and "fatale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fata vs fatale". 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 #1,444,445 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.