FeigevsfemmeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,425
“Feige” frequency rank
#33,585
“femme” frequency rank
45010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Feige femme
Definition essbare, süße, fleischige Frucht des Feigenbaums sich betont feminin gebende Lesbe: Femme

Where the eye mixes Feige and femme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Feige (CVVCV) and femme (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Feige
5 ch
femme

Look-alike desk: Feige vs femme

A purely visual mix-up. Feige ([ˈfaɪ̯ɡə]) 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 45010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Feige is recorded at frequency rank #11,425, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaɪ̯ɡə]. 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 45010, this pair ranks #1,367,437 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Feige vs femme

Shared letters: ef. Private to "Feige": gi. Private to "femme": m.

"Feige" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "femme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Feige ← efige · fegie · feieg · feigge · ffeige · fiege
  • femme ← efmme · feme · femem · ffemme · fmeme

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Feige" and "femme" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaɪ̯ɡə] versus [fɛm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Feige" or "femme" show up more?
"Feige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,425 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Feige" 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 #1,367,437 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Feige" 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 #1,367,437 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