flüchtigvsFlüchtlingWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: flüchtig is a adjective, Flüchtling is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“flüchtig” is an adjective and “Flüchtling” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,600
“flüchtig” frequency rank
#6,794
“Flüchtling” frequency rank
28394
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flüchtig Flüchtling
Definition auf der Flucht Person, die aus ethnischen, politischen, religiösen oder wirtschaftlichen Gründen aus ihrer Heimat flieht, flüchtet beziehungsweise geflohen, geflüchtet ist und dabei ihren gesamten Besitz oder den Großteil dessen zurücklassen musste

Where the eye mixes flüchtig and Flüchtling

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. flüchtig runs 8 letters (CCVCCCVC) against Flüchtling's 10 (CCVCCCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
flüchtig
10 ch
Flüchtling

Look-alike desk: flüchtig vs Flüchtling

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: flüchtig is [ˈflʏçtɪç] while Flüchtling is [ˈflʏçtlɪŋ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28394, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flüchtig is recorded at frequency rank #21,600, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈflʏçtɪç]. Flüchtling is at rank #6,794, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈflʏçtlɪŋ].

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 28394, this pair ranks #1,785,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of flüchtig vs Flüchtling

Shared letters: cfghiltü. Private to "flüchtig": -. Private to "Flüchtling": n.

"flüchtig" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC  ·  "Flüchtling" · 10 letters · shape CCVCCCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "flüchtig" and "Flüchtling" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "flüchtig" is an adjective and "Flüchtling" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "flüchtig" or "Flüchtling" show up more?
"Flüchtling" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,794 in our German list, against #21,600 for "flüchtig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "flüchtig" and "Flüchtling" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "flüchtig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Flüchtling" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,785,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flüchtig" and "Flüchtling" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flüchtig vs flüchtiger". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,785,559 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