GlückvsglühtConfusable pair

Quick tell: Glück is a noun, glüht is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Glück” is a noun and “glüht” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#488
“Glück” frequency rank
#39,396
“glüht” frequency rank
39884
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Glück glüht
Definition sich positiv auswirkender Zufall 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs glühen

Where the eye mixes Glück and glüht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Glück and glüht follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Glück
5 ch
glüht

Visual trap between Glück and glüht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Glück is [ɡlʏk] while glüht is [ɡlyːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39884, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Glück is recorded at frequency rank #488, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡlʏk]. glüht is at rank #39,396, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡlyːt].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 39884, this pair ranks #1,524,151 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Glück vs glüht

Shared letters: glü. Private to "Glück": ck. Private to "glüht": ht.

"Glück" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "glüht" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Glück" for "glüht" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Glück" is a noun and "glüht" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Glück" or "glüht" show up more?
"Glück" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #488 in our German list, against #39,396 for "glüht". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Glück" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "glüht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,524,151 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Glück" and "glüht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gicht vs glüht". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,524,151 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list