langvsLNGConfusable pair

Quick tell: lang is a adjective, LNG is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lang” is an adjective and “LNG” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#403
“lang” frequency rank
#44,774
“LNG” frequency rank
45177
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lang LNG
Definition große Ausmaße, große räumliche Ausmaße habend; über große Ausmaße, große Ausdehnung verfügend Erdgas, das zum besseren Transport verflüssigt wurde

Where the eye mixes lang and LNG

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lang runs 4 letters (CVCC) against LNG's 3 (CCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
lang
3 ch
LNG

Why the eye confuses lang with LNG

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lang is [laŋ] while LNG is [ɛlɛnˈd͡ʒiː]. 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 (adjective vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45177, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lang is recorded at frequency rank #403, classified as anadj, pronounced [laŋ]. LNG is at rank #44,774, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [ɛlɛnˈd͡ʒiː].

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 45177, this pair ranks #1,361,888 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lang vs LNG

Shared letters: gln. Private to "lang": a. Private to "LNG": -.

"lang" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "LNG" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lang ← alng · lagn · langg · lanng · llang · lnag

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lang" for "LNG" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lang" is an adjective and "LNG" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lang" or "LNG"?
"lang" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #403 in our German list, against #44,774 for "LNG". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "lang" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "LNG" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,361,888 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lang" and "LNG" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lai vs LNG". 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 #1,361,888 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