feinstevsfesteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#26,866
“feinste” frequency rank
#3,372
“feste” frequency rank
30238
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feinste feste
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Superlativs des Adjektivs fein Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs fest

Where the eye mixes feinste and feste

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

7 ch
feinste
5 ch
feste

Look-alike desk: feinste vs feste

A purely visual mix-up. feinste ([ˈfaɪ̯nstə]) and feste ([ˈfɛstə]) 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 30238, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feinste is recorded at frequency rank #26,866, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfaɪ̯nstə]. feste is at rank #3,372, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɛstə].

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 30238, this pair ranks #1,751,767 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of feinste vs feste

Shared letters: efst. Private to "feinste": in. Private to "feste": -.

"feinste" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV  ·  "feste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feinsteefinste · feinnste · feinset · feinsste · feinstte · feintse · feisnte · feniste
  • festeefste · feset · fesste · festte · fetse · ffeste · fsete

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "feinste" for "feste" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaɪ̯nstə] versus [ˈfɛstə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "feinste" or "feste" show up more?
"feste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,372 in our German list, against #26,866 for "feinste". 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 "feinste" and "feste" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "feinste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "feste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,751,767 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feinste" and "feste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feinste vs feinster". 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 #1,751,767 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