Which to use
“flehen” and “fliegen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,536
- “flehen” frequency rank
- #1,845
- “fliegen” frequency rank
- 42381
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flehen | fliegen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | emotional, stark untersetzt, bei jemandem um etwas bitten | sich ohne Bodenkontakt in der Luft, im freien Raum fortbewegen (mithilfe von Flügeln, eines Antriebs, eines Flugzeugs oder Ähnlichem) |
Where the eye mixes flehen and fliegen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. flehen runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against fliegen's 7 (CCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses flehen with fliegen
A purely visual mix-up. flehen ([ˈfleːən]) and fliegen ([ˈfliːɡn̩]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flehen is recorded at frequency rank #40,536, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfleːən]. fliegen is at rank #1,845, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfliːɡn̩].
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 42381, this pair ranks #1,451,150 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of flehen vs fliegen
Shared letters: efln. Private to "flehen": h. Private to "fliegen": gi.
"flehen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "fliegen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "flehen" and "fliegen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "flehen" or "fliegen"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "flehen" and "fliegen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "flehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fliegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,451,150 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flehen" and "fliegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flehen vs fleht". 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 #1,451,150 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.