lancevsLändleWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,214
“lance” frequency rank
#44,058
“Ländle” frequency rank
69272
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lance Ländle
Definition Waffe aus einem langen Stiel und einer Spitze aus Eisen das Bundesland Baden-Württemberg (die Landschaft Schwaben)

Where the eye mixes lance and Ländle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lance runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Ländle's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
lance
6 ch
Ländle

Why the eye confuses lance with Ländle

A purely visual mix-up. lance ([lɑ̃s]) and Ländle ([ˈlɛntlə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69272, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lance is recorded at frequency rank #25,214, classified as anoun, pronounced [lɑ̃s]. Ländle is at rank #44,058, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛntlə].

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 69272, this pair ranks #481,684 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lance vs Ländle

Shared letters: eln. Private to "lance": ac. Private to "Ländle": dä.

"lance" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Ländle" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lance ← alnce · lacne · lancce · lanec · lannce · llance · lnace

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lance" and "Ländle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([lɑ̃s] versus [ˈlɛntlə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "lance" or "Ländle" show up more?
"lance" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,214 in our German list, against #44,058 for "Ländle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "lance" and "Ländle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ländle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #481,684 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lance" and "Ländle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ländle 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 #481,684 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