FliegevsFlinteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,083
“Fliege” frequency rank
#36,327
“Flinte” frequency rank
46410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fliege Flinte
Definition fliegendes Insekt der Unterordnung Fliegen (Brachycera) Gewehr mit glattem Lauf, zum Verschießen von Schrot

Where the eye mixes Fliege and Flinte

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

6 ch
Fliege
6 ch
Flinte

Visual trap between Fliege and Flinte

A purely visual mix-up. Fliege ([ˈfliːɡə]) and Flinte ([ˈflɪntə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fliege is recorded at frequency rank #10,083, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfliːɡə]. Flinte is at rank #36,327, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈflɪntə].

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 46410, this pair ranks #1,320,081 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Fliege vs Flinte

Shared letters: efil. Private to "Fliege": g. Private to "Flinte": nt.

"Fliege" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "Flinte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fliegeffliege · filege · fleige · flieeg · fliegge · fligee · flliege · lfiege
  • Flintefflinte · filnte · flinet · flinnte · flintte · flitne · fllinte · flnite

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Fliege" for "Flinte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfliːɡə] versus [ˈflɪntə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Fliege" vs "Flinte" - which ranks higher?
"Fliege" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,083 in our German list, against #36,327 for "Flinte". 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 "Fliege" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Flinte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,320,081 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fliege" and "Flinte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Flaute vs Flinte". 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 #1,320,081 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