fegenvsFugeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#33,040
“fegen” frequency rank
#30,065
“Fuge” frequency rank
63105
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fegen Fuge
Definition mit einem Besen entfernen trennende, längliche, unter Umständen auch aufgefüllte Lücke, Spalt zwischen zwei Teilen, zum Beispiel Backsteinen oder Kacheln

Where the eye mixes fegen and Fuge

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fegen runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Fuge's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
fegen
4 ch
Fuge

Visual trap between fegen and Fuge

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fegen is [ˈfeːɡn̩] while Fuge is [ˈfuːɡə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63105, 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]. Fuge is at rank #30,065, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfuːɡə].

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 63105, this pair ranks #688,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fegen vs Fuge

Shared letters: efg. Private to "fegen": n. Private to "Fuge": u.

"fegen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Fuge" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fegen ← efgen · feegn · fegenn · feggen · fegne · ffegen · fgeen
  • Fuge ← ffuge · fgue · fueg · fugge · ufge

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fegen" for "Fuge" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fegen" is a verb and "Fuge" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fegen" or "Fuge"?
"Fuge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,065 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.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fuge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #688,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fegen" and "Fuge" 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 #688,630 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