Which to use
“black” and “blade” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,330
- “black” frequency rank
- #21,552
- “blade” frequency rank
- 23882
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | black | blade |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | schwarz | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs blad |
Where the eye mixes black and blade
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: black vs blade
A purely visual mix-up. black ([blæk]) and blade ([ˈblaːdə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23882, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
black is recorded at frequency rank #2,330, classified as anadj, pronounced [blæk]. blade is at rank #21,552, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈblaːdə].
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 23882, this pair ranks #1,855,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of black vs blade
Shared letters: abl. Private to "black": ck. Private to "blade": de.
"black" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "blade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "black" for "blade" ever safe?
Which is more common, "black" or "blade"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "black" and "blade" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "black" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,855,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "black" and "blade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blade vs Blazer". 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 #1,855,347 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.