flexibelvsflexibleTell them apart

Which to use

“flexibel” and “flexible” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,655
“flexibel” frequency rank
#16,422
“flexible” frequency rank
27077
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flexibel flexible
Definition die Eigenschaft besitzend, sich leicht mechanisch verändern zu lassen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs flexibel

Where the eye mixes flexibel and flexible

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
flexibel
8 ch
flexible

Visual trap between flexibel and flexible

A purely visual mix-up. flexibel ([flɛˈksiːbl̩]) and flexible ([flɛˈksiːblə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (el ↔ le) - a transposition the eye reads straight past. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flexibel is recorded at frequency rank #10,655, classified as anadj, pronounced [flɛˈksiːbl̩]. flexible is at rank #16,422, tagged as anadj, pronounced [flɛˈksiːblə].

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 27077, this pair ranks #1,807,721 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of flexibel vs flexible

Shared letters: befilx. Private to "flexibel": -. Private to "flexible": -.

"flexibel" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "flexible" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • flexibelfelxibel · fflexibel · fleixbel · flexbiel · flexibbel · flexibell · flexiebl · flexxibel
  • flexiblefelxible · fflexible · fleixble · flexbile · flexibble · flexiblle · flexilbe · flexxible

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flexibel" and "flexible" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([flɛˈksiːbl̩] versus [flɛˈksiːblə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "flexibel" or "flexible" show up more?
"flexibel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,655 in our German list, against #16,422 for "flexible". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "flexibel" and "flexible" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "flexibel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "flexible" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,807,721 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flexibel" and "flexible" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flexible vs flexiblen". 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 #1,807,721 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