blasvsblassTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#32,964
“blas” frequency rank
#13,326
“blass” frequency rank
46290
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature blas blass
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs blasen von geringer, schwacher Farbstärke

Same sound, different letters: blas vs blass

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.

4 ch
blas
5 ch
blass

Same sound, different spelling - blas / blass

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: blas and blass carry the same recorded pronunciation, [blaːs]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “blas” sits inside “blass”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46290, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

blas is recorded at frequency rank #32,964, classified as averb, pronounced [blaːs]. 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 46290, this pair ranks #1,324,209 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of blas vs blass

Shared letters: abls. Private to "blas": -. Private to "blass": -.

"blas" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "blass" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • blasbblas · bllas · blsa · lbas
  • blassbalss · bblass · blaß · bllass · blsas · lbass

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "blas" for "blass" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "blas" is a verb and "blass" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "blas" or "blass" show up more?
"blass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,326 in our German list, against #32,964 for "blas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "blas" / "blass". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "blas" 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 #1,324,209 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "blas" and "blass" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bims vs blas". 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 #1,324,209 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