flare
/flɛə̯/
"flare" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“flare” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,242 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,242
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A sudden bright light.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | flare |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /flɛə̯/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,242 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “flare” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for flare is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /flɛə̯/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,242 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for flare, with forms such as "falre", "fflare", and "flaer". 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, "flat", "flee", "flaw", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Origin unknown, first recorded in the mid 16th century, probably related to Latin flagrō (“I burn”). Norwegian flara (“to blaze; to flaunt in gaudy attire”) has a similar meaning, but the English word predates it. Possibly related to Middle High German vled… The correct English form is flare, spelled F-L-A-R-E.
Definition
- 1A sudden bright light.
- 2A source of brightly burning light or intense heat.
- 3A source of brightly burning light or intense heat.
- 4A source of brightly burning light or intense heat.
- 5A sudden eruption or outbreak; a flare-up.
- 6A widening of an object with an otherwise roughly constant width.
- 7A widening of an object with an otherwise roughly constant width.
- 8Bell-bottom trousers.
- 9The transition from downward flight to level flight just before landing.
- 10A low fly ball that is hit in the region between the infielders and the outfielders.
- 11A route run by the running back, releasing toward the sideline and then slightly arcing upfield looking for a short pass.
- 12Ellipsis of lens flare.
- 13An inflammation such as of tendons (tendonitis) or joints (osteoarthritis).
- 14A breakdance move of someone helicoptering his torso on alternating arms.
Etymology
Origin unknown, first recorded in the mid 16th century, probably related to Latin flagrō (“I burn”). Norwegian flara (“to blaze; to flaunt in gaudy attire”) has a similar meaning, but the English word predates it. Possibly related to Middle High German vlederen (“to flutter”), represented by modern German flattern. The noun is derived from the verb.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: falre,fflare,flaer,flarre,fllare,flrae,lfare
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of flare - 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.
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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “flare”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-L-A-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /flɛə̯/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “flat” - see the side-by-side comparison. flare vs flat
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.