femmevsFeteConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#33,585
“femme” frequency rank
#44,598
“Fete” frequency rank
78183
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature femme Fete
Definition sich betont feminin gebende Lesbe: Femme lockere, ungezwungene Feier

Where the eye mixes femme and Fete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. femme runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Fete's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
femme
4 ch
Fete

Look-alike desk: femme vs Fete

A purely visual mix-up. femme ([fɛm]) and Fete ([ˈfeːtə]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78183, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

femme is recorded at frequency rank #33,585, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɛm]. Fete is at rank #44,598, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfeːtə].

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 78183, this pair ranks #244,019 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of femme vs Fete

Shared letters: ef. Private to "femme": m. Private to "Fete": t.

"femme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Fete" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • femme ← efmme · feme · femem · ffemme · fmeme
  • Fete ← efte · ffete · ftee

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "femme" and "Fete" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛm] versus [ˈfeːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "femme" or "Fete"?
"femme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,585 in our German list, against #44,598 for "Fete". 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 "femme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #244,019 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "femme" and "Fete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Felge vs Fete". 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 #244,019 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