blue

[bluː]

/[bluː]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“blue” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #5,069) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#5,069
frequency rank, German
5,818
“B” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - blau

Corpus desk

Index DE-blue · blue · German

blue · rank #5,069 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,069
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,818
  • PHOTO-FINISH blicken

Nearest frequency peer: blicken (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „blue“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „blue“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

blue vs bu
50% similar
blue vs Bus
25% similar
blue vs but
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for blue
PropertyValue
Headwordblue
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[bluː]
Letters4
Frequency rank#5,069
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „blue“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.blueliegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „blicken“ (#5,068), „Budget“ (#5,070), „Bilanz“ (#5,067). Unter 5,818 „B“-Lemmata liegt „blue“ bei #5,069. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for blue is neighbouring look-alikes ("bu", "Bus", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced [bluː]. Frequency #5,069 among 5,818 “B” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for blue, with forms such as "bblue", "bllue", and "bule". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bu", "Bus", "but", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is blue, spelled B-L-U-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    blau
  2. 2
    trüb, schwermütig, traurig, melancholisch

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how blue appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The sky is blue.

Antonyms

orangehappyglad

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bblue
  • bllue
  • bule
  • lbue

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of blue - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

bblue1bllue1bule2lbue2
Edit distance from "blue"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "blue"?
"blue" is spelled B-L-U-E. The IPA pronunciation is [bluː].
What does "blue" mean?
As an adjective, "blue" means: blau
What words are commonly confused with "blue"?
"blue" is commonly confused with "bu", "Bus", "but". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "blue"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "blue" is [bluː]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "blue" come from?
"blue" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "blue", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

fake#5,080Bart#5,057know#5,096Hirn#4,997

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list