filsvsFinkTell them apart

Which to use

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

#49,670
“fils” frequency rank
#12,491
“Fink” frequency rank
62161
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fils Fink
Definition männlicher Nachkomme: Sohn Vertreter der artenreichen Familie Fringillidae aus der Ordnung der Sperlingsvögel (Passeriformes)

Where the eye mixes fils and Fink

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fils and Fink follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
fils
4 ch
Fink

Look-alike desk: fils vs Fink

A purely visual mix-up. fils ([fis]) and Fink ([fɪŋk]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fils is recorded at frequency rank #49,670, classified as anoun, pronounced [fis]. Fink is at rank #12,491, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fɪŋk].

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 62161, this pair ranks #722,956 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fils vs Fink

Shared letters: fi. Private to "fils": ls. Private to "Fink": kn.

"fils" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Fink" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fils ← ffils · fills · filss · fisl · flis · ifls
  • Fink ← ffink · fikn · finkk · finnk · fnik · ifnk

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fils" and "Fink" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fis] versus [fɪŋk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fils" or "Fink"?
"Fink" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,491 in our German list, against #49,670 for "fils". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fils" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fink" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #722,956 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fils" and "Fink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fils vs fist". 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 #722,956 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