tapesvstapferWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: tapes is a verb, tapfer is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#41,496
“tapes” frequency rank
#13,958
“tapfer” frequency rank
55454
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tapes tapfer
Definition 2. Person Singular Präsens Konjunktiv des Verbs tapar ohne Angst, Furcht (beziehungsweise Angst/Furcht beherrschend) und bereit, anhaltend gegen Gefahren und Schwierigkeiten zu kämpfen

Letter map: tapes vs tapfer

Shared letters muted; letters that set tapes and tapfer apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
tapes
6 ch
tapfer

Grammar separator: tapes vs tapfer

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tapes is averb and tapferanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55454, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tapes is recorded at frequency rank #41,496, classified as averb, pronounced […]. tapfer is at rank #13,958, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈtap͡fɐ].

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 55454, this pair ranks #978,930 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tapes vs tapfer

Shared letters: aept. Private to "tapes": s. Private to "tapfer": fr.

"tapes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tapfer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tapesatpes · taeps · tapess · tappes · tapse · tpaes · ttapes
  • tapferatpfer · tafper · tapefr · tapferr · tapffer · tapfre · tappfer · tpafer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tapes" and "tapfer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tapes" is a verb and "tapfer" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tapes" vs "tapfer" - which ranks higher?
"tapfer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,958 in our German list, against #41,496 for "tapes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "tapes" vs "tapfer" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tapes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tapfer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #978,930 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tapes" and "tapfer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs tapes". 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 #978,930 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