LäusevsLeuteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,335
“Läuse” frequency rank
#215
“Leute” frequency rank
43550
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Läuse Leute
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Laus eine Gruppe von Personen, Menschen meist unbestimmter, aber auch bestimmter Anzahl

Where the eye mixes Läuse and Leute

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

5 ch
Läuse
5 ch
Leute

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Läuse ([ˈlɔɪ̯zə]) 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 43550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Läuse is recorded at frequency rank #43,335, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔɪ̯zə]. 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 43550, this pair ranks #1,414,583 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Läuse vs Leute

Shared letters: elu. Private to "Läuse": . Private to "Leute": t.

"Läuse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Leute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Leuteelute · letue · leuet · leutte · lleute · luete

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Läuse" and "Leute" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlɔɪ̯zə] versus [ˈlɔɪ̯tə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Läuse" or "Leute"?
"Leute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #215 in our German list, against #43,335 for "Läuse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Läuse" and "Leute". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Läuse" 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 #1,414,583 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Läuse" and "Leute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs Läuse". 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