frissvsfrisstConfusable pair

Which to use

“friss” and “frisst” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,886
“friss” frequency rank
#9,196
“frisst” frequency rank
53082
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature friss frisst
Definition 2. Person Singular Präsens Imperativ Aktiv des Verbs fressen 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fressen

Where the eye mixes friss and frisst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. friss runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against frisst's 6 (CCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
friss
6 ch
frisst

Visual trap between friss and frisst

A purely visual mix-up. friss ([fʁɪs]) and frisst ([fʁɪst]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “friss” sits inside “frisst”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53082, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

friss is recorded at frequency rank #43,886, classified as averb, pronounced [fʁɪs]. frisst is at rank #9,196, tagged as averb, pronounced [fʁɪst].

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 53082, this pair ranks #1,071,767 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of friss vs frisst

Shared letters: firs. Private to "friss": -. Private to "frisst": t.

"friss" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "frisst" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • friss ← ffriss · firss · fris · friß · frriss · frsis · rfiss
  • frisst ← ffrisst · frisstt · frists · frißt · frrisst · frsist · rfisst

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "friss" and "frisst" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fʁɪs] versus [fʁɪst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "friss" or "frisst" show up more?
"frisst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,196 in our German list, against #43,886 for "friss". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "friss" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "frisst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,071,767 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "friss" and "frisst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fist vs friss". 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 #1,071,767 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