fortunavsfortuneWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,087
“fortuna” frequency rank
#30,054
“fortune” frequency rank
40141
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fortuna fortune
Definition Glück Schicksal, Zukunft

Letter map: fortuna vs fortune

Shared letters muted; letters that set fortuna and fortune apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. fortuna and fortune follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
fortuna
7 ch
fortune

Corpus notes: fortuna and fortune

fortuna and fortune are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - a in “fortuna” becomes e in “fortune”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40141, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fortuna is recorded at frequency rank #10,087, classified as anoun, pronounced [forˈtuːna]. fortune is at rank #30,054, tagged as anoun, 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 40141, this pair ranks #1,516,965 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fortuna vs fortune

Shared letters: fnortu. Private to "fortuna": a. Private to "fortune": e.

"fortuna" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "fortune" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fortuna ← ffortuna · forrtuna · fortnua · forttuna · fortuan · fortunna · forutna · fotruna
  • fortune ← ffortune · forrtune · fortnue · forttune · fortuen · fortunne · forutne · fotrune

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fortuna" for "fortune" ever safe?
No. They differ by a single letter - a in “fortuna” becomes e in “fortune”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "fortuna" vs "fortune" - which ranks higher?
"fortuna" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,087 in our German list, against #30,054 for "fortune". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "fortuna" and "fortune". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fortuna" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fortune" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,516,965 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fortuna" and "fortune" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fortune vs puzzles". 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 #1,516,965 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