femininvsfeminineTell them apart

Which to use

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

#38,735
“feminin” frequency rank
#44,596
“feminine” frequency rank
83331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feminin feminine
Definition dem weiblichen grammatischen Geschlecht zugehörig Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs feminin

Where the eye mixes feminin and feminine

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. feminin runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against feminine's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
feminin
8 ch
feminine

Look-alike desk: feminin vs feminine

A purely visual mix-up. feminin ([ˌfemiˈniːn]) and feminine ([ˌfemiˈniːnə]) 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) - “feminin” sits inside “feminine”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feminin is recorded at frequency rank #38,735, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˌfemiˈniːn]. feminine is at rank #44,596, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌfemiˈniːnə].

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 83331, this pair ranks #141,710 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of feminin vs feminine

Shared letters: efimn. Private to "feminin": -. Private to "feminine": -.

"feminin" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "feminine" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • femininefminin · feimnin · femiinn · femininn · feminni · feminnin · femminin · femniin
  • feminineefminine · feimnine · femiinne · feminien · femininne · feminnie · feminnine · femminine

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "feminin" and "feminine" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˌfemiˈniːn] versus [ˌfemiˈniːnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "feminin" or "feminine"?
"feminin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,735 in our German list, against #44,596 for "feminine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "feminin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "feminine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #141,710 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feminin" and "feminine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feminine vs Feminist". 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 #141,710 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