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PlainSpell

flare

/flɛɚ̯/noun, verb

flare is spelled F-L-A-R-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “flair vs flare” about 5,400 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, flare means “A sudden bright light” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of flare is flares.

How many letters and syllables are in flare?

Letters5: F-L-A-R-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.4 times per million words; the 12,216th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is flare?

Flare appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce flare?

  • UK /flɛə̯/
  • US /flɛɚ̯/
  • Australia /fleː/

Flare has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-flare.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with flare

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

flair vs flare5,400 G

Sounds like: flair (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with flare?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as flare from its last stressed vowel (/ɛəɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: feral.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of flare

  • flares plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • flaring participle, present
  • flared participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does flare mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A sudden bright light.

  2. 2

    A source of brightly burning light or intense heat.

    solar flare

  3. 3

    A type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light without an explosion, used to attract attention in an emergency, to illuminate an area, or as a decoy.

    Flares were used to steer the traffic away from the accident.

  4. 4

    A flame produced by a burn-off of waste gas (flare gas) from a flare tower (or flare stack), typically at an oil refinery.

  5. 5

    A sudden eruption or outbreak; a flare-up.

  6. 6

    A widening of an object with an otherwise roughly constant width.

    During assembly of a flare tube fitting, a flare nut is used to secure the flared tubing’s tapered end to the also tapered fitting, producing a pressure-resistant, leak-tight seal.

  7. 7

    The increase in width of most ship hulls with increasing height above the waterline.

  8. 8

    Bell-bottom trousers.

verb

  1. 1

    To cause to burn; in particular, to burn off excess gas.

  2. 2

    To cause inflammation; to inflame.

  3. 3

    To open outward in shape.

    The cat flared its nostrils while sniffing at the air. (transitive)

  4. 4

    To (operate an aircraft to) transition from downward flight to level flight just before landing.

  5. 5

    To blaze brightly.

    The blast furnace flared in the night.

  6. 6

    To shine out with a sudden and unsteady light; to emit a dazzling or painfully bright light.

    The candle flared in a sudden draught.

  7. 7

    To shine out with gaudy colours; to be offensively bright or showy.

  8. 8

    To suddenly happen or intensify.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Flare in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfusée lumineuse (source of brightly burning light or intense heat), feu de Bengale, feu de bengale (type of pyrotechnic), arrondi (transition from downward flight to level flight)
GermanFackel, Leuchtfackel, Bengalo, Leuchtsignal, Leuchtkugel, Leuchtzeichen (source of brightly burning light or intense heat)
Portuguesesinalizador (source of brightly burning light or intense heat)
Spanishbengala, luz de Bengala, luz bengalí (type of pyrotechnic)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does flare come from?

Origin uncertain, first recorded in the mid 16th century, probably related to Latin flagrō (“to 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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after flare