LilienvsLingenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Lilien is a noun, Lingen is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Lilien” is a noun and “Lingen” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,658
“Lilien” frequency rank
#22,419
“Lingen” frequency rank
43077
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lilien Lingen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Lilie eine Stadt in Niedersachsen, Deutschland

Where the eye mixes Lilien and Lingen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Lilien (CVCVVC) and Lingen (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Lilien
6 ch
Lingen

Look-alike desk: Lilien vs Lingen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lilien is [ˈliːli̯ən] while Lingen is [ˈlɪŋən]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lilien is recorded at frequency rank #20,658, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈliːli̯ən]. Lingen is at rank #22,419, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈlɪŋən].

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 43077, this pair ranks #1,429,327 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Lilien vs Lingen

Shared letters: eiln. Private to "Lilien": -. Private to "Lingen": g.

"Lilien" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "Lingen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lilienillien · liilen · lilein · lilienn · liline · lillien · lliien · llilien
  • Lingenilngen · lignen · linegn · lingenn · linggen · lingne · linngen · llingen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lilien" for "Lingen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lilien" is a noun and "Lingen" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Lilien" vs "Lingen" - which ranks higher?
"Lilien" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,658 in our German list, against #22,419 for "Lingen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lilien" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lingen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,429,327 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lilien" and "Lingen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lenzen vs Lingen". 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 #1,429,327 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