flehtvsflerWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fleht is a verb, fler is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fleht” is a verb and “fler” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,648
“fleht” frequency rank
#32,036
“fler” frequency rank
78684
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fleht fler
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs flehen mehr, eine größere Anzahl (als)

Where the eye mixes fleht and fler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fleht runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against fler's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
fleht
4 ch
fler

Visual trap between fleht and fler

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fleht is [fleːt] while fler is [ˈfleːr]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78684, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fleht is recorded at frequency rank #46,648, classified as averb, pronounced [fleːt]. fler is at rank #32,036, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfleːr].

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 78684, this pair ranks #232,808 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fleht vs fler

Shared letters: efl. Private to "fleht": ht. Private to "fler": r.

"fleht" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "fler" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fleht ← ffleht · flehht · flehtt · fleth · flhet · flleht · lfeht
  • fler ← felr · ffler · flerr · fller · flre · lfer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fleht" and "fler" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fleht" is a verb and "fler" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "fleht" or "fler" show up more?
"fler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,036 in our German list, against #46,648 for "fleht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fleht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #232,808 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fleht" and "fler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Filet 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 #232,808 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