feyvsfreiConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#43,868
“fey” frequency rank
#544
“frei” frequency rank
44412
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fey frei
Definition (aus dem schottischen) todgeweiht unabhängig, nicht gefangen, nicht versklavt

Letter map: fey vs frei

Shared letters muted; letters that set fey and frei apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
fey
4 ch
frei

Pair insight - fey / frei

fey and frei are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44412, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fey is recorded at frequency rank #43,868, classified as anadj, pronounced […]. frei is at rank #544, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fʁaɪ̯].

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 44412, this pair ranks #1,387,010 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fey vs frei

Shared letters: ef. Private to "fey": y. Private to "frei": ir.

"fey" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "frei" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • freiferi · ffrei · frie · frrei · rfei

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fey" and "frei" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "fey" vs "frei" - which ranks higher?
"frei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #544 in our German list, against #43,868 for "fey". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "fey" and "frei".

  • Full dictionary entry for "fey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "frei" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,387,010 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fey" and "frei" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fey vs puzzles". 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 #1,387,010 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