fisvsFischConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#26,408
“fis” frequency rank
#3,654
“Fisch” frequency rank
30062
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fis Fisch
Definition 1. Person Singulra Indikativ historisches Perfekt Aktiv des Verbs faire Tier, das unter Wasser lebt und durch Kiemen atmet

Where the eye mixes fis and Fisch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fis runs 3 letters (CVC) against Fisch's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
fis
5 ch
Fisch

Why the eye confuses fis with Fisch

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fis is [fi] while Fisch is [fɪʃ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fis” sits inside “Fisch”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30062, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fis is recorded at frequency rank #26,408, classified as averb, pronounced [fi]. Fisch is at rank #3,654, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fɪʃ].

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 30062, this pair ranks #1,755,139 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fis vs Fisch

Shared letters: fis. Private to "fis": -. Private to "Fisch": ch.

"fis" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Fisch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fischffisch · ficsh · fiscch · fischh · fishc · fissch · fsich · ifsch

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fis" for "Fisch" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fis" is a verb and "Fisch" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fis" or "Fisch"?
"Fisch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,654 in our German list, against #26,408 for "fis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fisch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,755,139 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fis" and "Fisch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fis 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 #1,755,139 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