flickvsFluchTell them apart

Quick tell: flick is a verb, Fluch is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“flick” is a verb and “Fluch” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,556
“flick” frequency rank
#9,192
“Fluch” frequency rank
39748
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flick Fluch
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs flicken (im Zorn) gesagte Verwünschung

Where the eye mixes flick and Fluch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
flick
5 ch
Fluch

Why the eye confuses flick with Fluch

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: flick is [flɪk] while Fluch is [fluːx]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39748, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flick is recorded at frequency rank #30,556, classified as averb, pronounced [flɪk]. Fluch is at rank #9,192, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fluːx].

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 39748, this pair ranks #1,528,035 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of flick vs Fluch

Shared letters: cfl. Private to "flick": ik. Private to "Fluch": hu.

"flick" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Fluch" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • flickfflick · filck · flcik · flicck · flickk · flikc · fllick · lfick
  • Fluchffluch · flcuh · flluch · flucch · fluchh · fluhc · fulch · lfuch

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flick" and "Fluch" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "flick" is a verb and "Fluch" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "flick" or "Fluch" show up more?
"Fluch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,192 in our German list, against #30,556 for "flick". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "flick" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fluch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,528,035 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flick" and "Fluch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flick vs Fock". 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 #1,528,035 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