frisstvsFrostWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#9,196
“frisst” frequency rank
#8,714
“Frost” frequency rank
17910
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature frisst Frost
Definition 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fressen äußere, sowohl strenge als auch milde Kälte, die bei Temperaturen im Bereich unter null Grad Celsius, also unterhalb des Gefrierpunktes von Wasser, eintritt

Where the eye mixes frisst and Frost

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. frisst runs 6 letters (CCVCCC) against Frost's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
frisst
5 ch
Frost

Why the eye confuses frisst with Frost

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: frisst is [fʁɪst] while Frost is [fʁɔst]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17910, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

frisst is recorded at frequency rank #9,196, classified as averb, pronounced [fʁɪst]. Frost is at rank #8,714, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fʁɔst].

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 17910, this pair ranks #1,923,149 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of frisst vs Frost

Shared letters: frst. Private to "frisst": i. Private to "Frost": o.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • frisst ← ffrisst · frisstt · frists · frißt · frrisst · frsist · rfisst
  • Frost ← ffrost · frosst · frostt · frots · frrost · frsot · rfost

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "frisst" and "Frost" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "frisst" is a verb and "Frost" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "frisst" or "Frost" show up more?
"Frost" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,714 in our German list, against #9,196 for "frisst". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "frisst" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Frost" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,923,149 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "frisst" and "Frost" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fist vs frisst". 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 #1,923,149 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