Which to use
“Festen” is a noun and “fügten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,523
- “Festen” frequency rank
- #45,292
- “fügten” frequency rank
- 48815
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Festen | fügten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Fest | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fügen |
Where the eye mixes Festen and fügten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Festen and fügten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: Festen vs fügten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Festen is [ˈfɛstn̩] while fügten is [ˈfyːktn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Festen is recorded at frequency rank #3,523, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛstn̩]. fügten is at rank #45,292, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfyːktn̩].
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 48815, this pair ranks #1,234,616 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Festen vs fügten
Shared letters: efnt. Private to "Festen": s. Private to "fügten": gü.
"Festen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "fügten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Festen ← efsten · fesetn · fessten · festenn · festne · festten · fetsen · ffesten
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Festen" for "fügten" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Festen" or "fügten" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Festen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fügten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,234,616 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Festen" and "fügten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fegen vs fügten". 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 #1,234,616 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.