LäusevsLustWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,335
“Läuse” frequency rank
#1,205
“Lust” frequency rank
44540
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Läuse Lust
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Laus Verlangen, Wunsch nach etwas

Where the eye mixes Läuse and Lust

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

5 ch
Läuse
4 ch
Lust

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Läuse ([ˈlɔɪ̯zə]) and Lust ([lʊst]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44540, 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]. 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 44540, this pair ranks #1,382,908 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Läuse vs Lust

Shared letters: lsu. Private to "Läuse": . Private to "Lust": t.

"Läuse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Lust" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Läuse" and "Lust" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlɔɪ̯zə] versus [lʊst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Läuse" or "Lust"?
"Lust" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,205 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list