Which to use
“fear” and “flag” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,122
- “fear” frequency rank
- #20,919
- “flag” frequency rank
- 50041
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fear | flag |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (die Emotion) Furcht | Flagge, Fahne |
Where the eye mixes fear and flag
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between fear and flag
A purely visual mix-up. fear ([fɪə]) and flag ([flæɡ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50041, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fear is recorded at frequency rank #29,122, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɪə]. flag is at rank #20,919, tagged as anoun, pronounced [flæɡ].
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 50041, this pair ranks #1,188,837 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fear vs flag
Shared letters: af. Private to "fear": er. Private to "flag": gl.
"fear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "flag" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fear" and "flag" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "fear" or "flag" show up more?
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 "fear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flag" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,188,837 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fear" and "flag" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fear vs ferry". 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 #1,188,837 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.