Which to use
“fliegen” is a verb and “fliegende” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,845
- “fliegen” frequency rank
- #16,147
- “fliegende” frequency rank
- 17992
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fliegen | fliegende |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich ohne Bodenkontakt in der Luft, im freien Raum fortbewegen (mithilfe von Flügeln, eines Antriebs, eines Flugzeugs oder Ähnlichem) | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fliegend |
Where the eye mixes fliegen and fliegende
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. fliegen runs 7 letters (CCVVCVC) against fliegende's 9 (CCVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fliegen and fliegende
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fliegen is [ˈfliːɡn̩] while fliegende is [ˈfliːɡn̩də]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fliegen” sits inside “fliegende”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fliegen is recorded at frequency rank #1,845, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfliːɡn̩]. fliegende is at rank #16,147, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfliːɡn̩də].
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 17992, this pair ranks #1,922,398 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fliegen vs fliegende
Shared letters: efgiln. Private to "fliegen": -. Private to "fliegende": d.
"fliegen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "fliegende" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fliegen" for "fliegende" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fliegen" or "fliegende"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fliegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fliegende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,922,398 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fliegen" and "fliegende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fliegende vs fliegender". 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 #1,922,398 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.