Which to use
“Fotografie” is a noun and “fotografiere” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,587
- “Fotografie” frequency rank
- #49,683
- “fotografiere” frequency rank
- 55270
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Fotografie | fotografiere |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | technisches Verfahren, bei dem mit Hilfe von optischen Verfahren ein Bild (Fotografie, Lichtbild) auf ein lichtempfindliches Medium produziert und dort dauerhaft gespeichert wird | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fotografieren |
Where the eye mixes Fotografie and fotografiere
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. Fotografie runs 10 letters (CVCVCCVCVV) against fotografiere's 12 (CVCVCCVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Fotografie vs fotografiere
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fotografie is [fotoɡʁaˈfiː] while fotografiere is [fotoɡʁaˈfiːʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Fotografie” sits inside “fotografiere”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Fotografie is recorded at frequency rank #5,587, classified as anoun, pronounced [fotoɡʁaˈfiː]. fotografiere is at rank #49,683, tagged as averb, pronounced [fotoɡʁaˈfiːʁə].
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 55270, this pair ranks #986,104 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Fotografie vs fotografiere
Shared letters: aefgiort. Private to "Fotografie": -. Private to "fotografiere": -.
"Fotografie" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVV · "fotografiere" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Fotografie ← ffotografie · footgrafie · fotgorafie · fotogarfie · fotoggrafie · fotografei · fotograffie · fotograife
- fotografiere ← ffotografiere · footgrafiere · fotgorafiere · fotogarfiere · fotoggrafiere · fotografeire · fotograffiere · fotografieer
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Fotografie" and "fotografiere" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Fotografie" or "fotografiere"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Fotografie" and "fotografiere" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Fotografie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fotografiere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #986,104 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Fotografie" and "fotografiere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fotografiere vs fotografierte". 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 #986,104 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.