Which to use
“fehle” is a verb and “feste” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,247
- “fehle” frequency rank
- #3,372
- “feste” frequency rank
- 23619
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fehle | feste |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fehlen | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs fest |
Where the eye mixes fehle and feste
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between fehle and feste
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fehle is [ˈfeːlə] 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23619, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fehle is recorded at frequency rank #20,247, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfeːlə]. 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 23619, this pair ranks #1,858,853 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fehle vs feste
Shared letters: ef. Private to "fehle": hl. Private to "feste": st.
"fehle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "feste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fehle" for "feste" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "fehle" or "feste" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fehle" 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 #1,858,853 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fehle" and "feste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fehle 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 #1,858,853 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.