feinervsfineWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,426
“feiner” frequency rank
#15,086
“fine” frequency rank
26512
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feiner fine
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs fein ausgezeichnet

Where the eye mixes feiner and fine

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
feiner
4 ch
fine

Visual trap between feiner and fine

A purely visual mix-up. feiner ([ˈfaɪ̯nɐ]) and fine ([faɪn]) 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 26512, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feiner is recorded at frequency rank #11,426, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfaɪ̯nɐ]. fine is at rank #15,086, tagged as anadj, pronounced [faɪn].

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 26512, this pair ranks #1,816,902 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of feiner vs fine

Shared letters: efin. Private to "feiner": r. Private to "fine": -.

"feiner" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "fine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feinerefiner · feinerr · feinner · feinre · fenier · ffeiner · fiener
  • fineffine · fnie · ifne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "feiner" and "fine" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaɪ̯nɐ] versus [faɪn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "feiner" or "fine"?
"feiner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,426 in our German list, against #15,086 for "fine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "feiner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,816,902 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feiner" and "fine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fine vs fist". 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 #1,816,902 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