fliegvsfliehtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,550
“flieg” frequency rank
#15,623
“flieht” frequency rank
41173
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flieg flieht
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fliegen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fliehen

Where the eye mixes flieg and flieht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
flieg
6 ch
flieht

Visual trap between flieg and flieht

A purely visual mix-up. flieg ([fliːk]) and flieht ([fliːt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41173, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flieg is recorded at frequency rank #25,550, classified as averb, pronounced [fliːk]. flieht is at rank #15,623, tagged as averb, pronounced [fliːt].

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 41173, this pair ranks #1,487,202 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of flieg vs flieht

Shared letters: efil. Private to "flieg": g. Private to "flieht": ht.

"flieg" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "flieht" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fliegfflieg · fileg · fleig · fliegg · flige · fllieg · lfieg
  • fliehtfflieht · fileht · fleiht · fliehht · fliehtt · flieth · flihet · fllieht

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flieg" and "flieht" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fliːk] versus [fliːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "flieg" or "flieht"?
"flieht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,623 in our German list, against #25,550 for "flieg". 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 "flieg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "flieht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,487,202 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flieg" and "flieht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fleht vs flieht". 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 #1,487,202 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