FersevsFeteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,767
“Ferse” frequency rank
#44,598
“Fete” frequency rank
80365
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ferse Fete
Definition hinterer Teil des Fußes lockere, ungezwungene Feier

Where the eye mixes Ferse and Fete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Ferse 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
Ferse
4 ch
Fete

Look-alike desk: Ferse vs Fete

A purely visual mix-up. Ferse ([ˈfɛʁzə]) 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 80365, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ferse is recorded at frequency rank #35,767, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛʁzə]. 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 80365, this pair ranks #197,107 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Ferse vs Fete

Shared letters: ef. Private to "Ferse": rs. Private to "Fete": t.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ferse ← efrse · feres · ferrse · fesre · fferse
  • Fete ← efte · ffete · ftee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ferse" for "Fete" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɛʁzə] versus [ˈfeːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Ferse" or "Fete"?
"Ferse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,767 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Ferse" and "Fete" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ferse" 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 #197,107 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ferse" 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 #197,107 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