Flags That Look Alike: Telling Them Apart

Vertical tricolours

Chad and Romania are the classic: blue, yellow, red in vertical bands. Chad's blue is darker (closer to indigo); Romania's is a brighter cobalt. In a quiz where both appear, the darker blue is Chad. Moldova uses the same colours with its coat of arms (an eagle) in the centre, and Andorra uses blue, yellow, red with its own arms and a slightly wider yellow band.

Ireland and Côte d'Ivoire are mirror images: Ireland is green, white, orange from the hoist (the flagpole side); Côte d'Ivoire is orange, white, green. Think "Ireland is green first" (the Emerald Isle). Italy (green, white, red) is confused with Mexico, which has the same colours plus its eagle-and-cactus emblem in the centre, and with Hungary, whose red, white and green run horizontally.

Belgium and Germany share black, red and gold: Belgium's bands are vertical (black at the hoist), Germany's horizontal (black on top). France (blue, white, red, vertical) and the Netherlands (red, white, blue, horizontal) differ in direction; Luxembourg is the Netherlands' flag with a lighter sky blue and slightly longer shape; Russia is white, blue, red horizontal; Paraguay is red, white, blue horizontal with an emblem.

Red and white

Indonesia and Monaco are both red over white. Monaco's flag is squarer (a 4:5 ratio against Indonesia's 2:3). In a quiz that shows them the same shape, you need the context of the question. Poland is the reverse: white over red. Singapore is red over white with a crescent and five stars in the top-left.

Austria and Latvia are both red, white, red horizontally: Austria's bands are equal; Latvia's red is a dark maroon and its white stripe is narrow. Peru is red, white, red vertically (and the state flag carries arms). Canada is red, white, red vertically with the maple leaf, which nobody confuses.

Qatar and Bahrain both have a white hoist with a serrated edge against a coloured field: Bahrain's is red with five points; Qatar's is a maroon (a distinctive dark purple-red) with nine points and a much longer flag.

Nordic crosses

All five Nordic flags use an off-centre cross. Denmark: red with a white cross. Sweden: blue with a yellow cross. Finland: white with a blue cross. Norway: red with a blue cross outlined in white. Iceland: blue with a red cross outlined in white. Norway and Iceland are each other's colour-swap: Norway is mostly red, Iceland mostly blue. Remember Iceland as "ice is blue".

Southern Cross flags

Australia and New Zealand both have a dark blue field, the Union Flag in the corner and the Southern Cross. New Zealand's four stars are red with white borders; Australia's are white, there are six (five of the Cross plus a large seven-pointed Commonwealth Star under the Union Flag), and the stars have seven points (one has five). Red stars means New Zealand.

Blue, yellow, red horizontal

Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela descend from the same flag. Colombia: a yellow top half, then blue and red quarters, no emblem. Ecuador: the same proportions with its coat of arms in the centre. Venezuela: three equal bands with an arc of eight white stars in the blue. Equal bands with stars is Venezuela; a big yellow half with arms is Ecuador; a big yellow half plain is Colombia.

Pan-African trios

Senegal, Mali and Guinea use green, yellow and red vertically. Guinea: red, yellow, green from the hoist. Mali: green, yellow, red. Senegal: green, yellow, red with a green star in the centre. So a star means Senegal; no star and green first means Mali; red first means Guinea. Cameroon is green, red, yellow vertical with a yellow star in the centre red band.

Ghana (red, gold, green horizontal with a black star) and Bolivia (red, yellow, green horizontal, with arms on the state flag) differ by the star; Lithuania is yellow, green, red horizontal; Ethiopia is green, yellow, red horizontal with a blue disc and star.

Slavic tricolours

Russia (white, blue, red), Slovenia (the same with a coat of arms at the top hoist), Slovakia (the same with its arms, a double cross on three hills, toward the hoist), Serbia (red, blue, white with arms), Croatia (red, white, blue with a chequered shield). The order of the stripes tells Russia from Serbia and Croatia; the arms tell Slovenia from Slovakia: Slovakia's shield shows the double cross.

Other famous pairs

• Haiti and Liechtenstein were once identical (blue over red); Liechtenstein added a gold crown in the hoist corner, and Haiti's national flag carries its arms on a white panel.
• Niger and India share orange (saffron), white and green horizontally with a circle in the middle: India's circle is a blue wheel with spokes; Niger's is a plain orange disc.
• Jordan and Palestine share black, white, green bands with a red triangle at the hoist; Jordan's triangle holds a small white star.
• Bangladesh and Japan both have a disc: Japan's red disc is on white and centred; Bangladesh's red disc is on green and slightly toward the hoist. Palau is a yellow disc on light blue, also off-centre.
• Honduras and El Salvador are both blue, white, blue horizontal: Honduras has five blue stars in the white band; El Salvador has its arms. Nicaragua also has arms, and Argentina has a sun face with light blue bands.

How to study

1. Learn the pairs in this guide as pairs: the detail that separates them is the whole lesson.
2. In the quiz, read the explanation after each flag question; it names the distinguishing feature.
3. Look at the hoist side first. The colour nearest the pole decides most tricolours.
4. Count stars and points when you see a Southern Cross or a serrated edge.

Glossary

• Hoist: the side of the flag nearest the pole; stripe orders are read from it.
• Fly: the free end of the flag.
• Tricolour: a flag of three bands, vertical or horizontal.
• Nordic cross: a cross with its vertical bar shifted toward the hoist.
• Canton: the upper hoist corner, where the Union Flag sits on Australia's and New Zealand's flags.