LindevslineWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,426
“Linde” frequency rank
#5,511
“line” frequency rank
18937
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Linde line
Definition Laubbaum der Gattung Tilia Schnur, Faden: lange, relativ dünne Textilie

Where the eye mixes Linde and line

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Linde
4 ch
line

Look-alike desk: Linde vs line

A purely visual mix-up. Linde ([ˈlɪndə]) and line ([laɪn]) 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 18937, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Linde is recorded at frequency rank #13,426, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɪndə]. line is at rank #5,511, tagged as anoun, pronounced [laɪn].

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 18937, this pair ranks #1,913,364 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Linde vs line

Shared letters: eiln. Private to "Linde": d. Private to "line": -.

"Linde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "line" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lindeilnde · lidne · lindde · lined · linnde · llinde · lnide
  • lineilne · lien · linne · lline · lnie

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Linde" for "line" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlɪndə] versus [laɪn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Linde" or "line" show up more?
"line" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,511 in our German list, against #13,426 for "Linde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Linde" and "line" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Linde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "line" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,913,364 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Linde" and "line" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Linde vs lindert". 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 #1,913,364 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