fragvsFrauTell them apart

Quick tell: frag is a verb, Frau is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“frag” is a verb and “Frau” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,498
“frag” frequency rank
#205
“Frau” frequency rank
2703
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature frag Frau
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Aktiv des Verbs fragen erwachsener, weiblicher Mensch

Where the eye mixes frag and Frau

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
frag
4 ch
Frau

Why the eye confuses frag with Frau

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: frag is [fʁaːk] while Frau is [fʁaʊ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - g in “frag” becomes u in “Frau”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

frag is recorded at frequency rank #2,498, classified as averb, pronounced [fʁaːk]. Frau is at rank #205, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fʁaʊ̯].

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 2703, this pair ranks #2,001,768 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of frag vs Frau

Shared letters: afr. Private to "frag": g. Private to "Frau": u.

"frag" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "Frau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fragfarg · ffrag · fragg · frga · frrag · rfag
  • Fraufaru · ffrau · frrau · frua · rfau

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "frag" and "Frau" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "frag" is a verb and "Frau" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "frag" or "Frau"?
"Frau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #205 in our German list, against #2,498 for "frag". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "frag" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Frau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,001,768 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "frag" and "Frau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fay vs frag". 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 #2,001,768 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