Which to use
“flach” and “flacher” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,830
- “flach” frequency rank
- #21,599
- “flacher” frequency rank
- 27429
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flach | flacher |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ohne größere Erhebungen und Vertiefungen | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs flach |
Where the eye mixes flach and flacher
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. flach runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against flacher's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses flach with flacher
A purely visual mix-up. flach ([flax]) and flacher ([ˈflaxɐ]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “flach” sits inside “flacher”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27429, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flach is recorded at frequency rank #5,830, classified as anadj, pronounced [flax]. flacher is at rank #21,599, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈflaxɐ].
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 27429, this pair ranks #1,801,923 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of flach vs flacher
Shared letters: acfhl. Private to "flach": -. Private to "flacher": er.
"flach" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "flacher" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "flach" for "flacher" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "flach" or "flacher" 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 "flach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flacher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,801,923 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flach" and "flacher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fälscher vs flacher". 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 #1,801,923 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.