Fes vs feste, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Fes” is a noun and “feste” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,338
“Fes” frequency rank: #3,372
“feste” frequency rank: 42710
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Fes	feste
Definition	orientalische Kopfbedeckung	Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs fest

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Fes and feste apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

Fes

5 ch

feste

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fes is [feːs] while feste is [ˈfɛstə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Fes” sits inside “feste”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42710, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fes is recorded at frequency rank #39,338, classified as anoun, pronounced [feːs]. 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 42710, this pair ranks #1,440,967 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Fes vs feste

Shared letters: efs. Private to "Fes": -. Private to "feste": t.

"Fes" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "feste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

feste ← efste · feset · fesste · festte · fetse · ffeste · fsete

Frequency comparison

Fes#39,338

feste#3,372

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Fes" and "feste" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fes" is a noun and "feste" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Fes" or "feste"?

"feste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,372 in our German list, against #39,338 for "Fes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Fes vs feste

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Fes”; for an adjective, it's “feste”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Fes” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable