flyingvslabsTell them apart

Quick tell: flying is a verb, labs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“flying” is a verb and “labs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,936
“flying” frequency rank
#33,163
“labs” frequency rank
57099
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flying labs
Definition Partizip Präsens (present participle) des Verbs fly Plural des Substantivs lab

Letter map: flying vs labs

Shared letters muted; letters that set flying and labs apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. flying runs 6 letters (CCVVCC) against labs's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
flying
4 ch
labs

Role in the sentence - flying and labs

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: flying is averb and labsanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57099, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flying is recorded at frequency rank #23,936, classified as averb, pronounced […]. labs is at rank #33,163, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 57099, this pair ranks #914,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of flying vs labs

Shared letters: l. Private to "flying": fginy. Private to "labs": abs.

"flying" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "labs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • flying ← fflying · fliyng · fllying · flyign · flyingg · flyinng · flynig · flyying
  • labs ← albs · labbs · labss · lasb · llabs

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flying" and "labs" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "flying" is a verb and "labs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "flying" or "labs"?
"flying" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,936 in our German list, against #33,163 for "labs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "flying" vs "labs" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "flying" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "labs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #914,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flying" and "labs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "labs vs puzzles". 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 #914,504 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