fettervsVetterWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#18,238
“fetter” frequency rank
#11,996
“Vetter” frequency rank
30234
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fetter Vetter
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fett Sohn des Bruders des Vaters

Same sound, different letters: fetter vs Vetter

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. fetter and Vetter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
fetter
6 ch
Vetter

Ear matches; page differs - fetter and Vetter

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: fetter and Vetter carry the same recorded pronunciation, [ˈfɛtɐ]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - f in “fetter” becomes v in “Vetter”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30234, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fetter is recorded at frequency rank #18,238, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɛtɐ]. Vetter is at rank #11,996, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛtɐ].

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 30234, this pair ranks #1,751,836 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fetter vs Vetter

Shared letters: ert. Private to "fetter": f. Private to "Vetter": v.

"fetter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Vetter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fetter ← eftter · feter · fetetr · fetterr · fettre · ffetter · fteter
  • Vetter ← evtter · veter · vetetr · vetterr · vettre · vteter · vvetter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fetter" for "Vetter" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fetter" is an adjective and "Vetter" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fetter" or "Vetter"?
"Vetter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,996 in our German list, against #18,238 for "fetter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fetter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Vetter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,751,836 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fetter" and "Vetter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fender vs fetter". 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 #1,751,836 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