Which to use
“blas” is a verb and “blau” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,964
- “blas” frequency rank
- #1,871
- “blau” frequency rank
- 34835
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blas | blau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs blasen | eine bunte Farbe, im Spektrum eine relativ kurzwellige Farbe zwischen grün und violett; Grundfarbe vieler Farbmodelle, insbesondere eine der drei Grundfarben des digitalen RGB-Farbraums |
Where the eye mixes blas and blau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between blas and blau
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: blas is [blaːs] while blau is [blaʊ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “blas” becomes u in “blau”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34835, 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]. blau is at rank #1,871, tagged as anadj, pronounced [blaʊ̯].
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 34835, this pair ranks #1,654,205 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of blas vs blau
Shared letters: abl. Private to "blas": s. Private to "blau": u.
"blas" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "blau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "blas" for "blau" ever safe?
Which is more common, "blas" or "blau"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "blas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,654,205 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blas" and "blau" 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 #1,654,205 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.