FeindvsfenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,579
“Feind” frequency rank
#44,597
“fen” frequency rank
48176
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Feind fen
Definition Person oder Gruppe mit besonders negativer Beziehung zu einer anderen Fenn

Where the eye mixes Feind and fen

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

5 ch
Feind
3 ch
fen

Look-alike desk: Feind vs fen

A purely visual mix-up. Feind ([faɪ̯nt]) and fen ([fɛn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48176, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Feind is recorded at frequency rank #3,579, classified as anoun, pronounced [faɪ̯nt]. fen is at rank #44,597, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fɛn].

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 48176, this pair ranks #1,258,072 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Feind vs fen

Shared letters: efn. Private to "Feind": di. Private to "fen": -.

"Feind" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "fen" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Feindefind · feidn · feindd · feinnd · fenid · ffeind · fiend

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Feind" for "fen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([faɪ̯nt] versus [fɛn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Feind" or "fen"?
"Feind" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,579 in our German list, against #44,597 for "fen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Feind" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,258,072 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Feind" and "fen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fay vs fen". 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 #1,258,072 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