friend

[fɹɛnd]

/[fɹɛnd]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“friend” has 9 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #20,584. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#20,584
frequency rank, German
3,474
“F” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - meist nicht zur Familie gehörende Person, die man gut kennt und die man mag, mit der man gern Umgang hat

Corpus desk

Index DE-friend · friend · German

friend · rank #20,584 · 9 variants · 17 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #20,584
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,474
  • PHOTO-FINISH found

Nearest frequency peer: found (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „friend“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „friend“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

friend vs friert
67% similar
friend vs Friese
50% similar
friend vs friere
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for friend
PropertyValue
Headwordfriend
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[fɹɛnd]
Letters6
Frequency rank#20,584
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „friend“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).friendliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „found“ (#20,583), „Gebrüder“ (#20,585), „Forschungsergebnisse“ (#20,582). Unter 3,474 „F“-Lemmata liegt „friend“ bei #20,584. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around friend (IPA [fɹɛnd]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #20,584 among 3,474 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for friend, with forms such as "ffriend", "firend", and "freind". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 17 confusable-pair relationships, "friert", "Friese", "friere", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is friend, spelled F-R-I-E-N-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    meist nicht zur Familie gehörende Person, die man gut kennt und die man mag, mit der man gern Umgang hat
  2. 2
    eine fördernde oder unterstützende Person

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how friend appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. She's my best friend.
  2. „He was most highly esteemed by Mr. Darcy, a most intimate, confidential friend.“

Synonyms

palmatecove

Antonyms

enemyfoe

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ffriend
  • firend
  • freind
  • friedn
  • friendd
  • friennd
  • frined
  • frriend
  • rfiend

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of friend - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ffriend1firend2freind2friedn2friendd1friennd1frined2frriend1
Edit distance from "friend"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "friend"?
"friend" is spelled F-R-I-E-N-D. The IPA pronunciation is [fɹɛnd].
What does "friend" mean?
As a noun, "friend" means: meist nicht zur Familie gehörende Person, die man gut kennt und die man mag, mit der man gern Umgang hat
What words are commonly confused with "friend"?
"friend" is commonly confused with "friert", "Friese", "friere". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "friend"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "friend" is [fɹɛnd]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "friend" come from?
"friend" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "friend", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Gebäck#20,586Erlöse#20,574Engeln#20,567cruise#20,558

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Eritrea9 variantscorpus9 variantshiesige9 variantshüpfen9 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list