FremdevsfrommeConfusable pair

Quick tell: Fremde is a noun, fromme is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Fremde” is a noun and “fromme” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,444
“Fremde” frequency rank
#27,308
“fromme” frequency rank
30752
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fremde fromme
Definition eine weibliche Person, die man nicht kennt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fromm

Where the eye mixes Fremde and fromme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Fremde
6 ch
fromme

Why the eye confuses Fremde with fromme

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fremde is [ˈfʁɛmdə] while fromme is [ˈfʁɔmə]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30752, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fremde is recorded at frequency rank #3,444, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʁɛmdə]. fromme is at rank #27,308, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁɔmə].

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 30752, this pair ranks #1,741,776 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Fremde vs fromme

Shared letters: efmr. Private to "Fremde": d. Private to "fromme": o.

"Fremde" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "fromme" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fremdefermde · ffremde · fredme · fremdde · fremed · fremmde · frmede · frremde
  • frommeffromme · formme · frmome · frome · fromem · frromme · rfomme

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Fremde" for "fromme" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fremde" is a noun and "fromme" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Fremde" or "fromme" show up more?
"Fremde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,444 in our German list, against #27,308 for "fromme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Fremde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fromme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,741,776 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fremde" and "fromme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fromme vs frommer". 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 #1,741,776 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