feinevsfeinemConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,261
“feine” frequency rank
#27,720
“feinem” frequency rank
32981
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feine feinem
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs fein Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fein

Where the eye mixes feine and feinem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
feine
6 ch
feinem

Why the eye confuses feine with feinem

A purely visual mix-up. feine ([ˈfaɪ̯nə]) and feinem ([ˈfaɪ̯nəm]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “feine” sits inside “feinem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feine is recorded at frequency rank #5,261, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfaɪ̯nə]. feinem is at rank #27,720, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfaɪ̯nəm].

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 32981, this pair ranks #1,695,919 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of feine vs feinem

Shared letters: efin. Private to "feine": -. Private to "feinem": m.

"feine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "feinem" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feineefine · feien · feinne · fenie · ffeine · fiene
  • feinemefinem · feienm · feinemm · feinme · feinnem · feniem · ffeinem · fienem

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "feine" for "feinem" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaɪ̯nə] versus [ˈfaɪ̯nəm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "feine" vs "feinem" - which ranks higher?
"feine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,261 in our German list, against #27,720 for "feinem". 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 "feine" and "feinem" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "feine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "feinem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,695,919 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feine" and "feinem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feilen vs feinem". 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 #1,695,919 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