LenzvslongWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,920
“Lenz” frequency rank
#6,559
“long” frequency rank
18479
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lenz long
Definition die erste Jahreszeit, Frühling Schiff

Letter map: Lenz vs long

Shared letters muted; letters that set Lenz and long apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
Lenz
4 ch
long

Pair insight - Lenz / long

Lenz and long are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lenz is recorded at frequency rank #11,920, classified as anoun, pronounced [lɛnt͡s]. long is at rank #6,559, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 18479, this pair ranks #1,917,814 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lenz vs long

Shared letters: ln. Private to "Lenz": ez. Private to "long": go.

"Lenz" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "long" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lenzelnz · lennz · lenzz · lezn · llenz · lnez
  • longllong · lnog · logn · longg · lonng · olng

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lenz" for "long" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "Lenz" vs "long" - which ranks higher?
"long" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,559 in our German list, against #11,920 for "Lenz". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Lenz" and "long".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lenz" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "long" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,917,814 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lenz" and "long" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lenz vs lenzen". 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 #1,917,814 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