FingernvsfingersWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Fingern is a noun, fingers is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Fingern” is a noun and “fingers” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,792
“Fingern” frequency rank
#35,771
“fingers” frequency rank
42563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fingern fingers
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Finger 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs finger

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Fingern and fingers apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
Fingern
7 ch
fingers

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Fingern is anoun and fingersaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - n in “Fingern” becomes s in “fingers”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fingern is recorded at frequency rank #6,792, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɪŋɐn]. fingers is at rank #35,771, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 42563, this pair ranks #1,445,494 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Fingern vs fingers

Shared letters: efginr. Private to "Fingern": -. Private to "fingers": s.

"Fingern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "fingers" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fingernffingern · fignern · finegrn · fingenr · fingernn · fingerrn · finggern · fingren
  • fingersffingers · figners · finegrs · fingerrs · fingerss · fingesr · finggers · fingres

Frequency comparison

Fingern#6,792
fingers#35,771

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Fingern" and "fingers" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fingern" is a noun and "fingers" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Fingern" or "fingers"?
"Fingern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,792 in our German list, against #35,771 for "fingers". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Fingern vs fingers

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Fingern”; for a verb, it's “fingers”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Fingern” 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