FedervsFeenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,362
“Feder” frequency rank
#30,551
“Feen” frequency rank
38913
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Feder Feen
Definition aus der Haut von Vögeln wachsendes, aus Keratin bestehendes Gebilde mit einer Art hornigem Stiel (dem sogenannten »Kiel«), von dem aus sich feine rippen- oder fadenartige Verästelungen (die sogenannte »Fahne«) abzweigen, und die Gesamtheit dieser Gebilde das Gefieder bildet Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Fee

Where the eye mixes Feder and Feen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Feder
4 ch
Feen

Visual trap between Feder and Feen

A purely visual mix-up. Feder ([ˈfeːdɐ]) and Feen ([ˈfeːən]) 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 38913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Feder is recorded at frequency rank #8,362, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfeːdɐ]. Feen is at rank #30,551, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfeːən].

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 38913, this pair ranks #1,551,274 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Feder vs Feen

Shared letters: ef. Private to "Feder": dr. Private to "Feen": n.

"Feder" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Feen" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Federefder · fdeer · fedder · federr · fedre · feedr · ffeder
  • Feenefen · feenn · fene · ffeen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Feder" for "Feen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfeːdɐ] versus [ˈfeːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Feder" or "Feen"?
"Feder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,362 in our German list, against #30,551 for "Feen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Feder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Feen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,551,274 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Feder" and "Feen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feels vs Feen". 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 #1,551,274 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