fishvsFSBTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,543
“fish” frequency rank
#41,175
“FSB” frequency rank
59718
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fish FSB
Definition Fisch russischer Inlandsgeheimdienst und Geheimpolizei

Where the eye mixes fish and FSB

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fish
3 ch
FSB

Look-alike desk: fish vs FSB

A purely visual mix-up. fish ([ˈfɪʃ]) and FSB ([ɛfʔɛsˈbeː]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fish is recorded at frequency rank #18,543, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɪʃ]. FSB is at rank #41,175, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɛfʔɛsˈbeː].

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 59718, this pair ranks #814,008 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fish vs FSB

Shared letters: fs. Private to "fish": hi. Private to "FSB": b.

"fish" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "FSB" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fishffish · fihs · fishh · fissh · fsih · ifsh

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fish" for "FSB" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɪʃ] versus [ɛfʔɛsˈbeː]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fish" or "FSB"?
"fish" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,543 in our German list, against #41,175 for "FSB". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fish" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "FSB" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #814,008 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fish" and "FSB" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fist vs FSB". 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 #814,008 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