flatvsFlurWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: flat is a adjective, Flur is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“flat” is an adjective and “Flur” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,913
“flat” frequency rank
#6,536
“Flur” frequency rank
19449
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flat Flur
Definition flach Raum zwischen Hauseingang und Treppenhaus oder zwischen Haustür und Wohnbereich

Where the eye mixes flat and Flur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
flat
4 ch
Flur

Why the eye confuses flat with Flur

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: flat is [flæt] while Flur is [fluːɐ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19449, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flat is recorded at frequency rank #12,913, classified as anadj, pronounced [flæt]. Flur is at rank #6,536, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fluːɐ̯].

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 19449, this pair ranks #1,908,214 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of flat vs Flur

Shared letters: fl. Private to "flat": at. Private to "Flur": ru.

"flat" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "Flur" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • flatfalt · fflat · flatt · fllat · flta · lfat
  • Flurfflur · fllur · flru · flurr · fulr · lfur

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "flat" for "Flur" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "flat" is an adjective and "Flur" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "flat" or "Flur" show up more?
"Flur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,536 in our German list, against #12,913 for "flat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "flat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Flur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,908,214 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flat" and "Flur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fist vs flat". 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 #1,908,214 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