fegenvsFeigeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#33,040
“fegen” frequency rank
#11,425
“Feige” frequency rank
44465
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fegen Feige
Definition mit einem Besen entfernen essbare, süße, fleischige Frucht des Feigenbaums

Where the eye mixes fegen and Feige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fegen (CVCVC) and Feige (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
fegen
5 ch
Feige

Visual trap between fegen and Feige

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fegen is [ˈfeːɡn̩] while Feige is [ˈfaɪ̯ɡə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44465, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fegen is recorded at frequency rank #33,040, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfeːɡn̩]. Feige is at rank #11,425, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaɪ̯ɡə].

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 44465, this pair ranks #1,385,338 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fegen vs Feige

Shared letters: efg. Private to "fegen": n. Private to "Feige": i.

"fegen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Feige" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fegen ← efgen · feegn · fegenn · feggen · fegne · ffegen · fgeen
  • Feige ← efige · fegie · feieg · feigge · ffeige · fiege

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fegen" and "Feige" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fegen" is a verb and "Feige" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fegen" or "Feige"?
"Feige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,425 in our German list, against #33,040 for "fegen". 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 "fegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Feige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,385,338 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fegen" and "Feige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fegen vs Felge". 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 #1,385,338 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