Which to use
“pflegen” is a verb and “Pfleger” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,872
- “pflegen” frequency rank
- #12,985
- “Pfleger” frequency rank
- 18857
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pflegen | Pfleger |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich sorgend um jemanden oder etwas kümmern (häufig um einen anvertrauten Menschen) | Person, die jemanden pflegt |
Where the eye mixes pflegen and Pfleger
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pflegen and Pfleger follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: pflegen vs Pfleger
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pflegen is [ˈp͡fleːɡn̩] while Pfleger is [ˈp͡fleːɡɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “pflegen” becomes r in “Pfleger”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pflegen is recorded at frequency rank #5,872, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈp͡fleːɡn̩]. Pfleger is at rank #12,985, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈp͡fleːɡɐ].
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 18857, this pair ranks #1,914,212 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pflegen vs Pfleger
Shared letters: efglp. Private to "pflegen": n. Private to "Pfleger": r.
"pflegen" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC · "Pfleger" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pflegen" and "Pfleger" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pflegen" or "Pfleger"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pflegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Pfleger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,914,212 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pflegen" and "Pfleger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pfleger vs pflügen". 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 #1,914,212 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.