LANvsLandsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: LAN is a abbrev, Lands is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“LAN” is an abbrev and “Lands” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,904
“LAN” frequency rank
#44,039
“Lands” frequency rank
52943
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature LAN Lands
Definition lokales Computernetzwerk Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Land

Where the eye mixes LAN and Lands

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
LAN
5 ch
Lands

Why the eye confuses LAN with Lands

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: LAN is [laːn] while Lands is [lant͡s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “LAN” sits inside “Lands”, and the parts of speech differ too (abbrev vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52943, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

LAN is recorded at frequency rank #8,904, classified as anabbrev, pronounced [laːn]. Lands is at rank #44,039, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lant͡s].

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 52943, this pair ranks #1,077,221 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of LAN vs Lands

Shared letters: aln. Private to "LAN": -. Private to "Lands": ds.

"LAN" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Lands" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Landsalnds · ladns · landds · landss · lannds · lansd · llands · lnads

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "LAN" and "Lands" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "LAN" is an abbrev and "Lands" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "LAN" or "Lands" show up more?
"LAN" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,904 in our German list, against #44,039 for "Lands". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "LAN" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lands" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,077,221 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "LAN" and "Lands" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lädst vs Lands". 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 #1,077,221 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