Which to use
“längs” is an adverb and “lines” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,976
- “längs” frequency rank
- #21,343
- “lines” frequency rank
- 40319
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | längs | lines |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | in der Längsachse | Plural des Substantivs line |
Where the eye mixes längs and lines
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: längs vs lines
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: längs is [lɛŋs] while lines is [laɪnz]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40319, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
längs is recorded at frequency rank #18,976, classified as anadv, pronounced [lɛŋs]. lines is at rank #21,343, tagged as anoun, pronounced [laɪnz].
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 40319, this pair ranks #1,511,908 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of längs vs lines
Shared letters: lns. Private to "längs": gä. Private to "lines": ei.
"längs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "lines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lines ← ilnes · liens · liness · linnes · llines · lnies
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "längs" and "lines" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "längs" or "lines" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "längs" and "lines" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "längs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,511,908 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "längs" and "lines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lines vs Loses". 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 #1,511,908 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.