lassvsLustConfusable pair

Quick tell: lass is a adjective, Lust is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lass” is an adjective and “Lust” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#863
“lass” frequency rank
#1,205
“Lust” frequency rank
2068
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lass Lust
Definition keine Energie habend Verlangen, Wunsch nach etwas

Where the eye mixes lass and Lust

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

4 ch
lass
4 ch
Lust

Visual trap between lass and Lust

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lass is [las] while Lust is [lʊst]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lass is recorded at frequency rank #863, classified as anadj, pronounced [las]. Lust is at rank #1,205, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lʊst].

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 2068, this pair ranks #2,003,167 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lass vs Lust

Shared letters: ls. Private to "lass": a. Private to "Lust": tu.

"lass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Lust" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lassalss · laß · llass · lsas
  • Lustllust · lsut · lusst · lustt · luts · ulst

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lass" and "Lust" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lass" is an adjective and "Lust" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "lass" or "Lust" show up more?
"lass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #863 in our German list, against #1,205 for "Lust". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lass" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lust" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,003,167 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lass" and "Lust" 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

Confusion rank #2,003,167 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