Which to use
“fear” is a noun and “fei” is a particle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,122
- “fear” frequency rank
- #21,248
- “fei” frequency rank
- 50370
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fear | fei |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (die Emotion) Furcht | erzgebirgisch, fränkisch, süddeutsch, oberdeutsch, drückt aus, dass man annimmt, dass die oder der Angesprochene das Gesagte noch nicht weiß |
Where the eye mixes fear and fei
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fear vs fei
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fear is [fɪə] while fei is [faɪ̯]. 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 particle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50370, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fear is recorded at frequency rank #29,122, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɪə]. fei is at rank #21,248, tagged as aparticle, pronounced [faɪ̯].
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 50370, this pair ranks #1,176,219 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fear vs fei
Shared letters: ef. Private to "fear": ar. Private to "fei": i.
"fear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fei" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fear ← efar · faer · fearr · fera · ffear
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fear" for "fei" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fear" or "fei"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fei" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,176,219 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fear" and "fei" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fear vs ferry". 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 #1,176,219 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.