fis vs fürs, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#26,408
“fis” frequency rank: #1,292
“fürs” frequency rank: 27700
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	fis	fürs
Definition	1. Person Singulra Indikativ historisches Perfekt Aktiv des Verbs faire	für das

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

fis

4 ch

fürs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fis is [fi] while fürs is [fyːɐ̯s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27700, 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]. fürs is at rank #1,292, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [fyːɐ̯s].

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 27700, this pair ranks #1,797,354 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fis vs fürs

Shared letters: fs. Private to "fis": i. Private to "fürs": rü.

"fis" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "fürs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Frequency comparison

fis#26,408

fürs#1,292

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fis" and "fürs" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fis" is a verb and "fürs" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "fis" or "fürs"?

"fürs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,292 in our German list, against #26,408 for "fis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering fis vs fürs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “fis”; for an abbrev, it's “fürs”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fis” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable