FehdevsfesteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Fehde is a noun, feste is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#30,552
“Fehde” frequency rank
#3,372
“feste” frequency rank
33924
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fehde feste
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 Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs fest

Where the eye mixes Fehde and feste

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Fehde
5 ch
feste

Visual trap between Fehde and feste

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fehde is [ˈfeːdə] while feste is [ˈfɛstə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33924, 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]. feste is at rank #3,372, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɛstə].

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 33924, this pair ranks #1,674,995 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Fehde vs feste

Shared letters: ef. Private to "Fehde": dh. Private to "feste": st.

"Fehde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "feste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fehdeefhde · fedhe · fehdde · fehed · fehhde · ffehde · fhede
  • festeefste · feset · fesste · festte · fetse · ffeste · fsete

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Fehde" and "feste" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fehde" is a noun and "feste" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Fehde" or "feste"?
"feste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,372 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.

After this comparison

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 "feste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,674,995 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fehde" and "feste" 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 #1,674,995 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