FehdevsfemmeConfusable pair

Which to use

“Fehde” and “femme” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,552
“Fehde” frequency rank
#33,585
“femme” frequency rank
64137
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fehde femme
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 sich betont feminin gebende Lesbe: Femme

Where the eye mixes Fehde and femme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Fehde and femme follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Fehde
5 ch
femme

Why the eye confuses Fehde with femme

A purely visual mix-up. Fehde ([ˈfeːdə]) and femme ([fɛm]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64137, 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]. femme is at rank #33,585, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fɛm].

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 64137, this pair ranks #652,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Fehde vs femme

Shared letters: ef. Private to "Fehde": dh. Private to "femme": m.

"Fehde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "femme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fehde ← efhde · fedhe · fehdde · fehed · fehhde · ffehde · fhede
  • femme ← efmme · feme · femem · ffemme · fmeme

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Fehde" and "femme" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfeːdə] versus [fɛm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Fehde" or "femme"?
"Fehde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,552 in our German list, against #33,585 for "femme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Fehde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "femme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #652,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fehde" and "femme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Felge vs femme". 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 #652,118 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