LaunevsLeuteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,136
“Laune” frequency rank
#215
“Leute” frequency rank
4351
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Laune Leute
Definition Gemütszustand; wie sich jemand fühlt oder worauf jemand gerade Lust hat eine Gruppe von Personen, Menschen meist unbestimmter, aber auch bestimmter Anzahl

Where the eye mixes Laune and Leute

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

5 ch
Laune
5 ch
Leute

Visual trap between Laune and Leute

A purely visual mix-up. Laune ([ˈlaʊ̯nə]) and Leute ([ˈlɔɪ̯tə]) 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 4351, 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]. Leute is at rank #215, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔɪ̯tə].

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 4351, this pair ranks #1,997,943 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Laune vs Leute

Shared letters: elu. Private to "Laune": an. Private to "Leute": t.

"Laune" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Leute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Launealune · lanue · launne · llaune · luane
  • Leuteelute · letue · leuet · leutte · lleute · luete

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Laune" and "Leute" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaʊ̯nə] versus [ˈlɔɪ̯tə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Laune" or "Leute" show up more?
"Leute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #215 in our German list, against #4,136 for "Laune". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Leute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,997,943 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Laune" and "Leute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs Laune". 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 #1,997,943 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