FiebervsfieserWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Fieber is a noun, fieser is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#5,828
“Fieber” frequency rank
#39,341
“fieser” frequency rank
45169
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fieber fieser
Definition Erhöhung der Körpertemperatur im Krankheitsfall; Schutzreaktion des Körpers, um Krankheitserreger abzutöten Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs fies

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Fieber and fieser apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Fieber
6 ch
fieser

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fieber is [ˈfiːbɐ] while fieser is [ˈfiːzɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “Fieber” becomes s in “fieser”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fieber is recorded at frequency rank #5,828, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfiːbɐ]. fieser is at rank #39,341, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfiːzɐ].

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 45169, this pair ranks #1,362,134 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Fieber vs fieser

Shared letters: efir. Private to "Fieber": b. Private to "fieser": s.

"Fieber" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "fieser" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fieberfeiber · ffieber · fibeer · fiebber · fieberr · fiebre · fieebr · ifeber
  • fieserfeiser · ffieser · fieesr · fieserr · fiesre · fiesser · fiseer · ifeser

Frequency comparison

Fieber#5,828
fieser#39,341

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Fieber" and "fieser" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fieber" is a noun and "fieser" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Fieber" or "fieser"?
"Fieber" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,828 in our German list, against #39,341 for "fieser". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Fieber vs fieser

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Fieber”; for an adjective, it's “fieser”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Fieber” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list