Which to use
“blade” and “blöde” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,552
- “blade” frequency rank
- #5,919
- “blöde” frequency rank
- 27471
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blade | blöde |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs blad | auf sehr niedrigem geistigen Niveau |
Where the eye mixes blade and blöde
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between blade and blöde
A purely visual mix-up. blade ([ˈblaːdə]) and blöde ([ˈbløːdə]) 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 - a in “blade” becomes ö in “blöde”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27471, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blade is recorded at frequency rank #21,552, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈblaːdə]. blöde is at rank #5,919, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbløːdə].
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 27471, this pair ranks #1,801,274 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of blade vs blöde
Shared letters: bdel. Private to "blade": a. Private to "blöde": ö.
"blade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "blöde" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- blade ← balde · bblade · bladde · blaed · bldae · bllade · lbade
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "blade" for "blöde" ever safe?
Frequency check: "blade" vs "blöde" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "blade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blöde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,801,274 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blade" and "blöde" 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 #1,801,274 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.