Which to use
“fehlte” is a verb and “Fette” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,362
- “fehlte” frequency rank
- #5,944
- “Fette” frequency rank
- 11306
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fehlte | Fette |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fehlen | Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Fett |
Where the eye mixes fehlte and Fette
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fehlte runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against Fette's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fehlte and Fette
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fehlte is [ˈfeːltə] while Fette is [ˈfɛtə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11306, 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]. Fette is at rank #5,944, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛtə].
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 11306, this pair ranks #1,970,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fehlte vs Fette
Shared letters: eft. Private to "fehlte": hl. Private to "Fette": -.
"fehlte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "Fette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fehlte" for "Fette" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fehlte" vs "Fette" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fehlte" and "Fette" 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 "Fette" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,970,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fehlte" and "Fette" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Felge vs Fette". 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 #1,970,568 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.