Which to use
“fliegen” and “fliehen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,845
- “fliegen” frequency rank
- #6,060
- “fliehen” frequency rank
- 7905
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fliegen | fliehen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich ohne Bodenkontakt in der Luft, im freien Raum fortbewegen (mithilfe von Flügeln, eines Antriebs, eines Flugzeugs oder Ähnlichem) | schnelles Verlassen eines Ortes beispielsweise aufgrund befürchteter Gefahr |
Where the eye mixes fliegen and fliehen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. fliegen ([ˈfliːɡn̩]) and fliehen ([ˈfliːən]) 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 a single letter - g in “fliegen” becomes h in “fliehen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7905, 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]. fliehen is at rank #6,060, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfliːən].
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 7905, this pair ranks #1,986,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fliegen vs fliehen
Shared letters: efiln. Private to "fliegen": g. Private to "fliehen": h.
"fliegen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "fliehen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC