Which to use
“Fehde” is a noun and “fehlen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,552
- “Fehde” frequency rank
- #1,415
- “fehlen” frequency rank
- 31967
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Fehde | fehlen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | kämpferische Auseinandersetzung, um Ansprüche durchzusetzen; früher eine Streithandlung mit Waffengewalt, heute in übertragenem Sinne länger währende Auseinandersetzung mit anderen Mitteln, zum Beispiel mit dem gesprochenen Wort | nicht vorhanden sein |
Where the eye mixes Fehde and fehlen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Fehde runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against fehlen's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Fehde and fehlen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fehde is [ˈfeːdə] while fehlen is [ˈfeːlən]. 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 31967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Fehde is recorded at frequency rank #30,552, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfeːdə]. fehlen is at rank #1,415, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfeːlən].
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 31967, this pair ranks #1,717,487 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Fehde vs fehlen
Shared letters: efh. Private to "Fehde": d. Private to "fehlen": ln.
"Fehde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fehlen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Fehde" and "fehlen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "Fehde" or "fehlen"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Fehde" and "fehlen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Fehde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fehlen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,717,487 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Fehde" and "fehlen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fehde 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 #1,717,487 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.