FleischvsfrischWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Fleisch is a noun, frisch is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,844
“Fleisch” frequency rank
#2,201
“frisch” frequency rank
4045
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fleisch frisch
Definition Muskel- und häufig auch Fettgewebe neu, gerade eben erst, kürzlich

Where the eye mixes Fleisch and frisch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Fleisch runs 7 letters (CCVVCCC) against frisch's 6 (CCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Fleisch
6 ch
frisch

Look-alike desk: Fleisch vs frisch

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fleisch is [flaɪ̯ʃ] while frisch is [fʁɪʃ]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4045, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fleisch is recorded at frequency rank #1,844, classified as anoun, pronounced [flaɪ̯ʃ]. frisch is at rank #2,201, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fʁɪʃ].

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 4045, this pair ranks #1,998,713 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Fleisch vs frisch

Shared letters: cfhis. Private to "Fleisch": el. Private to "frisch": r.

"Fleisch" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCC  ·  "frisch" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fleischfelisch · ffleisch · fleicsh · fleiscch · fleischh · fleishc · fleissch · flesich
  • frischffrisch · firsch · fricsh · friscch · frischh · frishc · frissch · frrisch

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Fleisch" and "frisch" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fleisch" is a noun and "frisch" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Fleisch" or "frisch" show up more?
"Fleisch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,844 in our German list, against #2,201 for "frisch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Fleisch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "frisch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,998,713 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fleisch" and "frisch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "finch vs frisch". 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 #1,998,713 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