Flags that look alike
Some flags are so close that even people who love flags mix them up. Here are five classic pairs, what each country's own constitution or flag law says, and the one detail to look for.
Chad and Romania
This is the closest pair of all. Romania's constitution describes its flag as three vertical stripes, blue, yellow and red, in that order from the pole.1 Chad's constitution says almost the same: a tricolour of blue, gold and red in vertical stripes of equal size, with the blue next to the pole.2
Neither text fixes the exact shades, and that is where the difference lies. In the flag images on this site, Chad's blue is the darker one.
Indonesia and Monaco, and Poland the other way round
Indonesia's constitution simply names its flag "the Red and White".3 Its flag law spells it out: red on top, white below, two stripes of equal height, and a flag two thirds as high as it is long.4 Monaco's constitution describes two equal horizontal stripes, red and white, and leaves the details to a sovereign ordinance from 1881.5
On this site every flag is drawn at the same 4:3 size, so here the two cannot be told apart by shape. Poland is the easy one: its law puts white on top and red below.6 If the white is on top, it is Poland.
Ireland and Côte d'Ivoire
Ireland's constitution says: "The national flag is the tricolour of green, white and orange."7 The government's flag guidelines add that the green goes next to the flagstaff and that the flag is twice as wide as it is high.8
Côte d'Ivoire's constitution names the same three colours the other way round: orange, white and green, in vertical bands of equal size.9 On the flag, orange is next to the pole. So the rule is simple: green at the pole is Ireland, orange at the pole is Côte d'Ivoire.
Australia and New Zealand
Both flags are blue with the Union Jack in the top corner by the pole, and both show the Southern Cross. Australia's Flags Act gives it a large white star below the Union Jack, standing for the states and territories, and five white stars for the Southern Cross. Four of those have seven points; the smallest has five.10
New Zealand's flag has four five-pointed stars, red with white borders, and no star below the Union Jack.11 So: white stars and six of them is Australia, red stars and four of them is New Zealand.
Senegal and Mali
Mali's constitution describes three vertical bands of equal size, green, gold and red.12 Senegal's describes the same three bands and adds a green five-pointed star in the centre of the gold band.13 A star means Senegal.
Test yourself
Knowing the difference is one thing, spotting it against the clock is another. The flag quizzes below mix in neighbours and look-alikes from the same continent.