feedvsfriedTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,564
“feed” frequency rank
#23,137
“fried” frequency rank
37701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feed fried
Definition jemandem oder etwas Nahrung geben 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs frieden

Where the eye mixes feed and fried

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

4 ch
feed
5 ch
fried

Look-alike desk: feed vs fried

A purely visual mix-up. feed ([fiːd]) and fried ([fʁiːt]) 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 37701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feed is recorded at frequency rank #14,564, classified as averb, pronounced [fiːd]. fried is at rank #23,137, tagged as averb, pronounced [fʁiːt].

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 37701, this pair ranks #1,583,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of feed vs fried

Shared letters: def. Private to "feed": -. Private to "fried": ir.

"feed" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "fried" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feedefed · fede · feedd · ffeed
  • friedffried · fired · freid · fride · friedd · frried · rfied

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "feed" and "fried" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fiːd] versus [fʁiːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "feed" or "fried"?
"feed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,564 in our German list, against #23,137 for "fried". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "feed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fried" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,583,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feed" and "fried" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fried vs friere". 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 #1,583,335 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