LängevslineConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,930
“Länge” frequency rank
#5,511
“line” frequency rank
7441
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Länge line
Definition eine horizontale Ausdehnung, Dimension Schnur, Faden: lange, relativ dünne Textilie

Where the eye mixes Länge and line

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Länge
4 ch
line

Visual trap between Länge and line

A purely visual mix-up. Länge ([ˈlɛŋə]) and line ([laɪn]) 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 7441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Länge is recorded at frequency rank #1,930, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛŋə]. line is at rank #5,511, tagged as anoun, pronounced [laɪn].

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 7441, this pair ranks #1,988,142 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Länge vs line

Shared letters: eln. Private to "Länge": . Private to "line": i.

"Länge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "line" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lineilne · lien · linne · lline · lnie

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Länge" for "line" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlɛŋə] versus [laɪn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Länge" or "line" show up more?
"Länge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,930 in our German list, against #5,511 for "line". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Länge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "line" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,988,142 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Länge" and "line" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs line". 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 #1,988,142 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