Flee is running away in a panic. Retreat is stepping back, often by choice.
Both words describe getting away from something, so children treat them as the same action. What separates them is speed and panic.
To flee is to escape as fast as you can because you are frightened. When a dog bounds into the park, the pigeons flee in a flurry of wings. Fleeing is urgent and a little wild.
To retreat is to move back, and it can be calm, sensible and planned. When the tide comes in, families retreat up the beach, picking up their towels as they go. You can also retreat to your bedroom after a noisy day. An army can retreat in good order; it only flees if it is running for its life.
To run away from danger.
Similar: escape, bolt, run
To move back or away, especially from danger.
Similar: withdraw, flee
When a question asks what a word suggests about a character, flee suggests fear and panic, while retreat can suggest a sensible or even dignified decision. Mixing them up changes the whole picture of what happened.
Definitions and example sentences on this page are the ones a child sees inside Wordrealm, taken from our list of over 1,100 words. It is free to browse, with nothing to sign up for.
Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test