Which to use
“blade” and “blue” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,552
- “blade” frequency rank
- #5,069
- “blue” frequency rank
- 26621
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blade | blue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs blad | blau |
Where the eye mixes blade and blue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses blade with blue
A purely visual mix-up. blade ([ˈblaːdə]) and blue ([bluː]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26621, 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]. blue is at rank #5,069, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bluː].
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 26621, this pair ranks #1,815,177 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of blade vs blue
Shared letters: bel. Private to "blade": ad. Private to "blue": u.
"blade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "blue" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "blade" for "blue" ever safe?
Frequency check: "blade" vs "blue" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "blade" and "blue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "blade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,815,177 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blade" and "blue" 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 #1,815,177 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.