femvsfgWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fem is a num, fg is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fem” is a num and “fg” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,170
“fem” frequency rank
#19,571
“fg” frequency rank
62741
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fem fg
Definition fünf fieses oder freches Grinsen

Letter map: fem vs fg

Shared letters muted; letters that set fem and fg apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
fem
2 ch
fg

Role in the sentence - fem and fg

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fem is anum and fganabbrev. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fem is recorded at frequency rank #43,170, classified as anum, pronounced [fɛmˀ]. fg is at rank #19,571, tagged as anabbrev.

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 62741, this pair ranks #701,911 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fem vs fg

Shared letters: f. Private to "fem": em. Private to "fg": g.

"fem" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "fg" · 2 letters · shape CC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fem" for "fg" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fem" is a num and "fg" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fem" vs "fg" - which ranks higher?
"fg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,571 in our German list, against #43,170 for "fem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "fem" and "fg". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fg" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #701,911 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fem" and "fg" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fem vs firm". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #701,911 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