fütterevsfütternConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#40,548
“füttere” frequency rank
#11,238
“füttern” frequency rank
51786
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature füttere füttern
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs füttern einem Tier Nahrung geben

Where the eye mixes füttere and füttern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. füttere (CVCCVCV) and füttern (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
füttere
7 ch
füttern

Visual trap between füttere and füttern

A purely visual mix-up. füttere ([ˈfʏtəʁə]) and füttern ([ˈfʏtɐn]) 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 a single letter - e in “füttere” becomes n in “füttern”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51786, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

füttere is recorded at frequency rank #40,548, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfʏtəʁə]. füttern is at rank #11,238, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʏtɐn].

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 51786, this pair ranks #1,122,077 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of füttere vs füttern

Shared letters: efrtü. Private to "füttere": -. Private to "füttern": n.

"füttere" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "füttern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "füttere" for "füttern" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfʏtəʁə] versus [ˈfʏtɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "füttere" or "füttern"?
"füttern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,238 in our German list, against #40,548 for "füttere". 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 "füttere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "füttern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,122,077 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "füttere" and "füttern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fitter vs füttere". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,122,077 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