langvslassWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#403
“lang” frequency rank
#863
“lass” frequency rank
1266
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lang lass
Definition große Ausmaße, große räumliche Ausmaße habend; über große Ausmaße, große Ausdehnung verfügend keine Energie habend

Where the eye mixes lang and lass

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lang
4 ch
lass

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. lang ([laŋ]) and lass ([las]) 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 1266, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lang is recorded at frequency rank #403, classified as anadj, pronounced [laŋ]. lass is at rank #863, tagged as anadj, pronounced [las].

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 1266, this pair ranks #2,004,655 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lang vs lass

Shared letters: al. Private to "lang": gn. Private to "lass": s.

"lang" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • langalng · lagn · langg · lanng · llang · lnag
  • lassalss · laß · llass · lsas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lang" and "lass" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([laŋ] versus [las]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lang" or "lass"?
"lang" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #403 in our German list, against #863 for "lass". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "lang" and "lass". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lang" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lass" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,004,655 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lang" and "lass" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs lass". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list