festervsFörsterTell them apart

Quick tell: fester is a adjective, Förster is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#6,534
“fester” frequency rank
#13,363
“Förster” frequency rank
19897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fester Förster
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fest beruflich mit der Verwaltung und Bewirtschaftung eines Walds und des dortigen Wilds betraute Person

Where the eye mixes fester and Förster

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
fester
7 ch
Förster

Visual trap between fester and Förster

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fester is [ˈfɛstɐ] while Förster is [ˈfœʁstɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fester is recorded at frequency rank #6,534, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɛstɐ]. Förster is at rank #13,363, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfœʁstɐ].

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 19897, this pair ranks #1,903,455 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fester vs Förster

Shared letters: efrst. Private to "fester": -. Private to "Förster": ö.

"fester" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Förster" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • festerefster · fesetr · fesster · festerr · festre · festter · fetser · ffester

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fester" and "Förster" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fester" is an adjective and "Förster" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fester" vs "Förster" - which ranks higher?
"fester" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,534 in our German list, against #13,363 for "Förster". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fester" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Förster" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,903,455 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fester" and "Förster" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fessel vs fester". 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 #1,903,455 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