fliehenvsfliesenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,060
“fliehen” frequency rank
#20,920
“fliesen” frequency rank
26980
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fliehen fliesen
Definition schnelles Verlassen eines Ortes beispielsweise aufgrund befürchteter Gefahr Fliesen verlegen

Where the eye mixes fliehen and fliesen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
fliehen
7 ch
fliesen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fliehen ([ˈfliːən]) and fliesen ([ˈfliːzn̩]) 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 - h in “fliehen” becomes s in “fliesen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26980, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fliehen is recorded at frequency rank #6,060, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfliːən]. fliesen is at rank #20,920, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfliːzn̩].

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 26980, this pair ranks #1,809,224 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fliehen vs fliesen

Shared letters: efiln. Private to "fliehen": h. Private to "fliesen": s.

"fliehen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "fliesen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fliehenffliehen · filehen · fleihen · flieehn · fliehenn · fliehhen · fliehne · fliheen
  • fliesenffliesen · filesen · fleisen · flieesn · fliesenn · fliesne · fliessen · fliseen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fliehen" and "fliesen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfliːən] versus [ˈfliːzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fliehen" or "fliesen"?
"fliehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,060 in our German list, against #20,920 for "fliesen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list