feinervsFreierWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: feiner is a adjective, Freier is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“feiner” is an adjective and “Freier” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,426
“feiner” frequency rank
#3,443
“Freier” frequency rank
14869
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feiner Freier
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs fein Mann, der eine Frau umwirbt, um sie zu heiraten

Where the eye mixes feiner and Freier

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

6 ch
feiner
6 ch
Freier

Look-alike desk: feiner vs Freier

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: feiner is [ˈfaɪ̯nɐ] while Freier is [ˈfʁaɪ̯ɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14869, 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]. Freier is at rank #3,443, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪ̯ɐ].

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 14869, this pair ranks #1,948,146 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of feiner vs Freier

Shared letters: efir. Private to "feiner": n. Private to "Freier": -.

"feiner" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Freier" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feinerefiner · feinerr · feinner · feinre · fenier · ffeiner · fiener
  • Freierferier · ffreier · freeir · freierr · freire · frieer · frreier · rfeier

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "feiner" for "Freier" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "feiner" is an adjective and "Freier" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "feiner" vs "Freier" - which ranks higher?
"Freier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,443 in our German list, against #11,426 for "feiner". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "feiner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Freier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,948,146 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feiner" and "Freier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feiner vs fixer". 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 #1,948,146 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