LaunevsLeineTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,136
“Laune” frequency rank
#9,763
“Leine” frequency rank
13899
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Laune Leine
Definition Gemütszustand; wie sich jemand fühlt oder worauf jemand gerade Lust hat längere feste Schnur, an der etwas festgemacht wird oder mit der etwas festgemacht wird; dünnes Seil

Where the eye mixes Laune and Leine

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

5 ch
Laune
5 ch
Leine

Visual trap between Laune and Leine

A purely visual mix-up. Laune ([ˈlaʊ̯nə]) and Leine ([ˈlaɪ̯nə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13899, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Laune is recorded at frequency rank #4,136, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯nə]. Leine is at rank #9,763, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯nə].

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 13899, this pair ranks #1,954,922 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Laune vs Leine

Shared letters: eln. Private to "Laune": au. Private to "Leine": i.

"Laune" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Leine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Launealune · lanue · launne · llaune · luane
  • Leineeline · leien · leinne · lenie · liene · lleine

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Laune" and "Leine" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaʊ̯nə] versus [ˈlaɪ̯nə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Laune" or "Leine"?
"Laune" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,136 in our German list, against #9,763 for "Leine". 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 "Laune" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Leine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,954,922 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Laune" and "Leine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Leibes vs Leine". 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 #1,954,922 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