lance vs länger, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“lance” is a noun and “länger” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,214
“lance” frequency rank: #864
“länger” frequency rank: 26078
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lance	länger
Definition	Waffe aus einem langen Stiel und einer Spitze aus Eisen	Prädikative und adverbielle Form des Komparativs des Adjektivs lang

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lance and länger apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

lance

6 ch

länger

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lance is [lɑ̃s] while länger is [ˈlɛŋɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26078, 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]. länger is at rank #864, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlɛŋɐ].

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 26078, this pair ranks #1,823,497 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lance vs länger

Shared letters: eln. Private to "lance": ac. Private to "länger": grä.

"lance" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "länger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequency comparison

lance#25,214

länger#864

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lance" and "länger" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lance" is a noun and "länger" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "lance" or "länger"?

"länger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #864 in our German list, against #25,214 for "lance". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering lance vs länger

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “lance”; for an adjective, it's “länger”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lance” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable