Which to use
“flake” and “fluke” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,087
- “flake” frequency rank
- #24,159
- “fluke” frequency rank
- 46246
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flake | fluke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything | A lucky or improbable occurrence that could probably never be repeated. |
Where the eye mixes flake and fluke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses flake with fluke
A purely visual mix-up. flake (/fleɪk/) and fluke (/fluːk/) 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 - a in “flake” becomes u in “fluke”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46246, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flake is recorded at frequency rank #22,087, classified as anoun, pronounced /fleɪk/. fluke is at rank #24,159, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fluːk/.
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 46246, this pair ranks #213,589 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of flake vs fluke
Shared letters: efkl. Private to "flake": a. Private to "fluke": u.
"flake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "fluke" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "flake" and "fluke" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "flake" or "fluke" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "flake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fluke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #213,589 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flake" and "fluke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flaked vs fluke". 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 #213,589 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.