landenvslenzenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,755
“landen” frequency rank
#49,051
“lenzen” frequency rank
52806
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature landen lenzen
Definition mit einem Wasserfahrzeug ans Land gelangen Wasser aus einem Boots- oder Schiffskörper entfernen

Where the eye mixes landen and lenzen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. landen and lenzen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
landen
6 ch
lenzen

Visual trap between landen and lenzen

A purely visual mix-up. landen ([ˈlandn̩]) and lenzen ([ˈlɛnt͡sn̩]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52806, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

landen is recorded at frequency rank #3,755, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlandn̩]. lenzen is at rank #49,051, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlɛnt͡sn̩].

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 52806, this pair ranks #1,082,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of landen vs lenzen

Shared letters: eln. Private to "landen": ad. Private to "lenzen": z.

"landen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "lenzen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • landen ← alnden · ladnen · landden · landenn · landne · lanedn · lannden · llanden
  • lenzen ← elnzen · lenezn · lennzen · lenzenn · lenzne · lenzzen · leznen · llenzen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "landen" and "lenzen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlandn̩] versus [ˈlɛnt͡sn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "landen" or "lenzen"?
"landen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,755 in our German list, against #49,051 for "lenzen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "landen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lenzen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,082,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "landen" and "lenzen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lenzen vs letten". 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 #1,082,556 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