Which to use
“free” and “freies” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,313
- “free” frequency rank
- #8,053
- “freies” frequency rank
- 11366
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | free | freies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ohne eine Bezahlung zu verlangen; nicht mit Kosten verbunden | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs frei |
Where the eye mixes free and freies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. free runs 4 letters (CCVV) against freies's 6 (CCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between free and freies
A purely visual mix-up. free ([fɹiː]) and freies ([ˈfʁaɪ̯əs]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11366, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
free is recorded at frequency rank #3,313, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɹiː]. freies is at rank #8,053, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪ̯əs].
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 11366, this pair ranks #1,970,249 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of free vs freies
Shared letters: efr. Private to "free": -. Private to "freies": is.
"free" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "freies" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "free" and "freies" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "free" or "freies"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "free" and "freies" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "free" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "freies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,970,249 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "free" and "freies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "free vs friere". 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 #1,970,249 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.