fieservsFreierTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#39,341
“fieser” frequency rank
#3,443
“Freier” frequency rank
42784
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fieser Freier
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs fies Mann, der eine Frau umwirbt, um sie zu heiraten

Where the eye mixes fieser and Freier

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fieser (CVVCVC) and Freier (CCVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
fieser
6 ch
Freier

Visual trap between fieser and Freier

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fieser is [ˈfiːzɐ] while Freier is [ˈfʁaɪ̯ɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42784, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fieser is recorded at frequency rank #39,341, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfiːzɐ]. Freier is at rank #3,443, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪ̯ɐ].

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 42784, this pair ranks #1,438,581 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fieser vs Freier

Shared letters: efir. Private to "fieser": s. Private to "Freier": -.

"fieser" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Freier" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fieser ← feiser · ffieser · fieesr · fieserr · fiesre · fiesser · fiseer · ifeser
  • Freier ← ferier · ffreier · freeir · freierr · freire · frieer · frreier · rfeier

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fieser" and "Freier" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fieser" is an adjective and "Freier" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fieser" vs "Freier" - which ranks higher?
"Freier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,443 in our German list, against #39,341 for "fieser". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "fieser" and "Freier" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fieser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Freier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,438,581 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fieser" and "Freier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fieser vs fixer". 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 #1,438,581 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