feetvsfegenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: feet is a noun, fegen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“feet” is a noun and “fegen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,651
“feet” frequency rank
#33,040
“fegen” frequency rank
67691
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feet fegen
Definition Plural des Substantivs foot mit einem Besen entfernen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set feet and fegen apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
feet
5 ch
fegen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: feet is [fiːt] while fegen is [ˈfeːɡn̩]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67691, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feet is recorded at frequency rank #34,651, classified as anoun, pronounced [fiːt]. fegen is at rank #33,040, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfeːɡn̩].

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 67691, this pair ranks #531,864 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of feet vs fegen

Shared letters: ef. Private to "feet": t. Private to "fegen": gn.

"feet" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "fegen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feetefet · feett · ffeet
  • fegenefgen · feegn · fegenn · feggen · fegne · ffegen · fgeen

Frequency comparison

feet#34,651
fegen#33,040

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "feet" and "fegen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "feet" is a noun and "fegen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "feet" or "fegen"?
"fegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,040 in our German list, against #34,651 for "feet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering feet vs fegen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “feet”; for a verb, it's “fegen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “feet” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list