Which to use
“flehen” and “freien” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,536
- “flehen” frequency rank
- #1,131
- “freien” frequency rank
- 41667
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flehen | freien |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | emotional, stark untersetzt, bei jemandem um etwas bitten | jemanden zum Mann oder zur Frau nehmen |
Where the eye mixes flehen and freien
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: flehen vs freien
A purely visual mix-up. flehen ([ˈfleːən]) and freien ([ˈfʁaɪ̯ən]) 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 41667, 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]. freien is at rank #1,131, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪ̯ən].
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 41667, this pair ranks #1,472,607 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of flehen vs freien
Shared letters: efn. Private to "flehen": hl. Private to "freien": ir.
"flehen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "freien" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "flehen" and "freien" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "flehen" vs "freien" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "flehen" and "freien" 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 "freien" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,472,607 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flehen" and "freien" 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 #1,472,607 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.