FehdevsfehlteWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#30,552
“Fehde” frequency rank
#5,362
“fehlte” frequency rank
35914
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fehde fehlte
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 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fehlen

Where the eye mixes Fehde and fehlte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Fehde runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against fehlte's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Fehde
6 ch
fehlte

Look-alike desk: Fehde vs fehlte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fehde is [ˈfeːdə] while fehlte is [ˈfeːltə]. 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 35914, 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]. fehlte is at rank #5,362, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfeːltə].

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 35914, this pair ranks #1,628,415 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Fehde vs fehlte

Shared letters: efh. Private to "Fehde": d. Private to "fehlte": lt.

"Fehde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "fehlte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fehde ← efhde · fedhe · fehdde · fehed · fehhde · ffehde · fhede
  • fehlte ← efhlte · fehhlte · fehlet · fehllte · fehltte · fehtle · felhte · ffehlte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Fehde" and "fehlte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fehde" is a noun and "fehlte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Fehde" or "fehlte"?
"fehlte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,362 in our German list, against #30,552 for "Fehde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Fehde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fehlte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,628,415 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fehde" and "fehlte" 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 #1,628,415 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