LeuvsluiWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Leu is a noun, lui is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Leu” is a noun and “lui” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,653
“Leu” frequency rank
#44,056
“lui” frequency rank
86709
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Leu lui
Definition Löwe er

Where the eye mixes Leu and lui

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Leu and lui follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
Leu
3 ch
lui

Look-alike desk: Leu vs lui

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Leu is [lɔɪ̯] while lui is [lɥi]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86709, 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]. lui is at rank #44,056, tagged as apron, pronounced [lɥi].

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 86709, this pair ranks #89,992 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Leu vs lui

Shared letters: lu. Private to "Leu": e. Private to "lui": i.

"Leu" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "lui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Leu" and "lui" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Leu" is a noun and "lui" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Leu" or "lui"?
"Leu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,653 in our German list, against #44,056 for "lui". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Leu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #89,992 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Leu" and "lui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs Leu". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #89,992 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