FotografievsFotografinTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,587
“Fotografie” frequency rank
#19,912
“Fotografin” frequency rank
25499
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fotografie Fotografin
Definition technisches Verfahren, bei dem mit Hilfe von optischen Verfahren ein Bild (Fotografie, Lichtbild) auf ein lichtempfindliches Medium produziert und dort dauerhaft gespeichert wird weibliche Person, die sich als Beruf oder Hobby intensiv der Fotografie widmet

Where the eye mixes Fotografie and Fotografin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. Fotografie (CVCVCCVCVV) and Fotografin (CVCVCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
Fotografie
10 ch
Fotografin

Look-alike desk: Fotografie vs Fotografin

A purely visual mix-up. Fotografie ([fotoɡʁaˈfiː]) and Fotografin ([fotoˈɡʁaːfɪn]) 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 a single letter - e in “Fotografie” becomes n in “Fotografin”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25499, 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]. Fotografin is at rank #19,912, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fotoˈɡʁaːfɪn].

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 25499, this pair ranks #1,832,356 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Fotografie vs Fotografin

Shared letters: afgiort. Private to "Fotografie": e. Private to "Fotografin": n.

"Fotografie" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVV  ·  "Fotografin" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fotografie ← ffotografie · footgrafie · fotgorafie · fotogarfie · fotoggrafie · fotografei · fotograffie · fotograife
  • Fotografin ← ffotografin · footgrafin · fotgorafin · fotogarfin · fotoggrafin · fotograffin · fotografinn · fotografni

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Fotografie" for "Fotografin" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fotoɡʁaˈfiː] versus [fotoˈɡʁaːfɪn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Fotografie" vs "Fotografin" - which ranks higher?
"Fotografie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,587 in our German list, against #19,912 for "Fotografin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Fotografie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fotografin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,832,356 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fotografie" and "Fotografin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fotografie vs fotografiere". 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 #1,832,356 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