läuftvsLustWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#585
“läuft” frequency rank
#1,205
“Lust” frequency rank
1790
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature läuft Lust
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs laufen Verlangen, Wunsch nach etwas

Where the eye mixes läuft and Lust

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

5 ch
läuft
4 ch
Lust

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: läuft is [lɔɪ̯ft] while Lust is [lʊst]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1790, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

läuft is recorded at frequency rank #585, classified as averb, pronounced [lɔɪ̯ft]. 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 1790, this pair ranks #2,003,729 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of läuft vs Lust

Shared letters: ltu. Private to "läuft": . Private to "Lust": s.

"läuft" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "Lust" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lustllust · lsut · lusst · lustt · luts · ulst

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "läuft" and "Lust" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "läuft" is a verb and "Lust" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "läuft" or "Lust"?
"läuft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #585 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.

What to do next

You've compared "läuft" and "Lust". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "läuft" 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 #2,003,729 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "läuft" and "Lust" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lähmt vs läuft". 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