fragtenvsFrontenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#15,090
“fragten” frequency rank
#12,494
“Fronten” frequency rank
27584
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fragten Fronten
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fragen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Front

Where the eye mixes fragten and Fronten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fragten and Fronten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
fragten
7 ch
Fronten

Why the eye confuses fragten with Fronten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fragten is [ˈfʁaːktn̩] while Fronten is [ˈfʁɔntn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fragten is recorded at frequency rank #15,090, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfʁaːktn̩]. Fronten is at rank #12,494, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʁɔntn̩].

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 27584, this pair ranks #1,799,355 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fragten vs Fronten

Shared letters: efnrt. Private to "fragten": ag. Private to "Fronten": o.

"fragten" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Fronten" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fragten ← fargten · ffragten · fragetn · fraggten · fragtenn · fragtne · fragtten · fratgen
  • Fronten ← ffronten · fornten · frnoten · fronetn · fronnten · frontenn · frontne · frontten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fragten" for "Fronten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fragten" is a verb and "Fronten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fragten" vs "Fronten" - which ranks higher?
"Fronten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,494 in our German list, against #15,090 for "fragten". 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 "fragten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fronten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,799,355 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fragten" and "Fronten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fragten vs Fritten". 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 #1,799,355 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