FetevsFeuerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#44,598
“Fete” frequency rank
#1,477
“Feuer” frequency rank
46075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fete Feuer
Definition lockere, ungezwungene Feier Flammenbildung bei der Verbrennung unter Abgabe von Wärme und Licht

Where the eye mixes Fete and Feuer

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

4 ch
Fete
5 ch
Feuer

Look-alike desk: Fete vs Feuer

A purely visual mix-up. Fete ([ˈfeːtə]) and Feuer ([ˈfɔɪ̯ɐ]) 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 46075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fete is recorded at frequency rank #44,598, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfeːtə]. Feuer is at rank #1,477, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɔɪ̯ɐ].

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 46075, this pair ranks #1,331,467 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Fete vs Feuer

Shared letters: ef. Private to "Fete": t. Private to "Feuer": ru.

"Fete" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Feuer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fete ← efte · ffete · ftee
  • Feuer ← efuer · feeur · feuerr · feure · ffeuer · fueer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Fete" for "Feuer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfeːtə] versus [ˈfɔɪ̯ɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Fete" or "Feuer" show up more?
"Feuer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,477 in our German list, against #44,598 for "Fete". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Fete" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Feuer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,331,467 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fete" and "Feuer" 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 #1,331,467 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