flamevsFlöheWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“flame” and “Flöhe” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,392
“flame” frequency rank
#39,346
“Flöhe” frequency rank
86738
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flame Flöhe
Definition Flamme Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Floh

Where the eye mixes flame and Flöhe

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

5 ch
flame
5 ch
Flöhe

Look-alike desk: flame vs Flöhe

A purely visual mix-up. flame ([fleɪm]) and Flöhe ([ˈfløːə]) 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 86738, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flame is recorded at frequency rank #47,392, classified as anoun, pronounced [fleɪm]. Flöhe is at rank #39,346, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfløːə].

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 86738, this pair ranks #89,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of flame vs Flöhe

Shared letters: efl. Private to "flame": am. Private to "Flöhe": .

"flame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Flöhe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • flamefalme · fflame · flaem · fllame · flmae · lfame

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "flame" for "Flöhe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fleɪm] versus [ˈfløːə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "flame" vs "Flöhe" - which ranks higher?
"Flöhe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,346 in our German list, against #47,392 for "flame". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "flame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Flöhe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #89,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flame" and "Flöhe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flame vs Flure". 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 #89,635 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