blakevsblassTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#16,939
“blake” frequency rank
#13,326
“blass” frequency rank
30265
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature blake blass
Definition 3. Person Singular Konjunktiv I Präsens Aktiv des Verbs blaken von geringer, schwacher Farbstärke

Where the eye mixes blake and blass

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
blake
5 ch
blass

Why the eye confuses blake with blass

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: blake is [ˈblaːkə] while blass is [blas]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30265, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

blake is recorded at frequency rank #16,939, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈblaːkə]. blass is at rank #13,326, tagged as anadj, pronounced [blas].

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 30265, this pair ranks #1,751,249 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of blake vs blass

Shared letters: abl. Private to "blake": ek. Private to "blass": s.

"blake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "blass" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • blakebalke · bblake · blaek · blakke · blkae · bllake · lbake
  • blassbalss · bblass · blaß · bllass · blsas · lbass

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "blake" and "blass" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "blake" is a verb and "blass" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "blake" or "blass"?
"blass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,326 in our German list, against #16,939 for "blake". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "blake" and "blass" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "blake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "blass" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,751,249 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "blake" and "blass" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blass vs bypass". 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 #1,751,249 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