fremdenvsfrommenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fremden is a adjective, frommen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fremden” is an adjective and “frommen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,035
“fremden” frequency rank
#30,064
“frommen” frequency rank
33099
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fremden frommen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fremd nützlich, hilfreich sein

Where the eye mixes fremden and frommen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
fremden
7 ch
frommen

Visual trap between fremden and frommen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fremden is [ˈfʁɛmdn̩] while frommen is [ˈfʁɔmən]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33099, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fremden is recorded at frequency rank #3,035, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁɛmdn̩]. frommen is at rank #30,064, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʁɔmən].

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 33099, this pair ranks #1,693,293 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fremden vs frommen

Shared letters: efmnr. Private to "fremden": d. Private to "frommen": o.

"fremden" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "frommen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fremdenfermden · ffremden · fredmen · fremdden · fremdenn · fremdne · fremedn · fremmden
  • frommenffrommen · frmomen · fromemn · frommenn · frommne · frrommen · rfommen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fremden" for "frommen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fremden" is an adjective and "frommen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fremden" or "frommen"?
"fremden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,035 in our German list, against #30,064 for "frommen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fremden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "frommen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,693,293 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fremden" and "frommen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "frommen vs frozen". 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 #1,693,293 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