feyvsFSBWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#43,868
“fey” frequency rank
#41,175
“FSB” frequency rank
85043
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fey FSB
Definition (aus dem schottischen) todgeweiht russischer Inlandsgeheimdienst und Geheimpolizei

Letter map: fey vs FSB

Shared letters muted; letters that set fey and FSB apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. fey (CVV) and FSB (CCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
fey
3 ch
FSB

Grammar separator: fey vs FSB

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fey is anadjective and FSBanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fey is recorded at frequency rank #43,868, classified as anadj, pronounced […]. FSB is at rank #41,175, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɛfʔɛsˈbeː].

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 85043, this pair ranks #114,349 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fey vs FSB

Shared letters: f. Private to "fey": ey. Private to "FSB": bs.

"fey" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "FSB" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fey" for "FSB" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fey" is an adjective and "FSB" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "fey" or "FSB" show up more?
"FSB" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,175 in our German list, against #43,868 for "fey". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "fey" and "FSB". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "FSB" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #114,349 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fey" and "FSB" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fey vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #114,349 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