LackevsLängeTell them apart

Which to use

“Lacke” and “Länge” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,413
“Lacke” frequency rank
#1,930
“Länge” frequency rank
47343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lacke Länge
Definition kleine Flüssigkeitsansammlung; Ansammlung von Regenwasser, Pfütze, kleines Gewässer eine horizontale Ausdehnung, Dimension

Where the eye mixes Lacke and Länge

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Lacke and Länge follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Lacke
5 ch
Länge

Why the eye confuses Lacke with Länge

A purely visual mix-up. Lacke ([ˈlakə]) and Länge ([ˈlɛŋə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lacke is recorded at frequency rank #45,413, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlakə]. Länge is at rank #1,930, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛŋə].

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 47343, this pair ranks #1,287,608 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Lacke vs Länge

Shared letters: el. Private to "Lacke": ack. Private to "Länge": gnä.

"Lacke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Länge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lacke ← alcke · laccke · lacek · lackke · lakce · lcake · llacke

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lacke" for "Länge" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlakə] versus [ˈlɛŋə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Lacke" vs "Länge" - which ranks higher?
"Länge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,930 in our German list, against #45,413 for "Lacke". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lacke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Länge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,287,608 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lacke" and "Länge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lacke vs lame". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,287,608 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