fehltevsFeteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#5,362
“fehlte” frequency rank
#44,598
“Fete” frequency rank
49960
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fehlte Fete
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fehlen lockere, ungezwungene Feier

Where the eye mixes fehlte and Fete

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

6 ch
fehlte
4 ch
Fete

Look-alike desk: fehlte vs Fete

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fehlte is [ˈfeːltə] while Fete is [ˈfeːtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fehlte is recorded at frequency rank #5,362, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfeːltə]. Fete is at rank #44,598, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfeːtə].

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 49960, this pair ranks #1,191,922 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fehlte vs Fete

Shared letters: eft. Private to "fehlte": hl. Private to "Fete": -.

"fehlte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "Fete" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fehlteefhlte · fehhlte · fehlet · fehllte · fehltte · fehtle · felhte · ffehlte
  • Feteefte · ffete · ftee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fehlte" for "Fete" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fehlte" is a verb and "Fete" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fehlte" vs "Fete" - which ranks higher?
"fehlte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,362 in our German list, against #44,598 for "Fete". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "fehlte" and "Fete" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fehlte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,191,922 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fehlte" and "Fete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Felge vs Fete". 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 #1,191,922 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