findvsfistWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,633
“find” frequency rank
#49,674
“fist” frequency rank
51307
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature find fist
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs finden 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fisten

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set find and fist apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
find
4 ch
fist

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. find ([fɪnt]) and fist ([fɪst]) 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 51307, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

find is recorded at frequency rank #1,633, classified as averb, pronounced [fɪnt]. fist is at rank #49,674, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɪst].

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 51307, this pair ranks #1,140,477 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of find vs fist

Shared letters: fi. Private to "find": dn. Private to "fist": st.

"find" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "fist" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • findffind · fidn · findd · finnd · fnid · ifnd
  • fistffist · fisst · fistt · fits · fsit · ifst

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "find" and "fist" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɪnt] versus [fɪst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "find" or "fist"?
"find" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,633 in our German list, against #49,674 for "fist". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list