LeuvsLeuteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,653
“Leu” frequency rank
#215
“Leute” frequency rank
42868
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Leu Leute
Definition Löwe eine Gruppe von Personen, Menschen meist unbestimmter, aber auch bestimmter Anzahl

Where the eye mixes Leu and Leute

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

3 ch
Leu
5 ch
Leute

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Leu ([lɔɪ̯]) 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 differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Leu” sits inside “Leute”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Leu is recorded at frequency rank #42,653, classified as anoun, pronounced [lɔɪ̯]. 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 42868, this pair ranks #1,435,980 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Leu vs Leute

Shared letters: elu. Private to "Leu": -. Private to "Leute": t.

"Leu" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "Leute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Leu" and "Leute" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([lɔɪ̯] versus [ˈlɔɪ̯tə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Leu" or "Leute"?
"Leute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #215 in our German list, against #42,653 for "Leu". 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 "Leu" and "Leute". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Leu" 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 #1,435,980 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Leu" and "Leute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs Leu". 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