LinievsLungeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#996
“Linie” frequency rank
#9,768
“Lunge” frequency rank
10764
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Linie Lunge
Definition (gedachte) gerade oder gekrümmte Verbindung zwischen zwei Punkten ein Organ zum Atmen von Luft

Where the eye mixes Linie and Lunge

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Linie (CVCVV) and Lunge (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Linie
5 ch
Lunge

Look-alike desk: Linie vs Lunge

A purely visual mix-up. Linie ([ˈliːni̯ə]) and Lunge ([ˈlʊŋə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10764, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Linie is recorded at frequency rank #996, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈliːni̯ə]. Lunge is at rank #9,768, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlʊŋə].

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 10764, this pair ranks #1,973,433 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Linie vs Lunge

Shared letters: eln. Private to "Linie": i. Private to "Lunge": gu.

"Linie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "Lunge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Linieilnie · liine · linei · linnie · llinie · lniie
  • Lungellunge · lnuge · lugne · luneg · lungge · lunnge · ulnge

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Linie" and "Lunge" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈliːni̯ə] versus [ˈlʊŋə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Linie" or "Lunge" show up more?
"Linie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #996 in our German list, against #9,768 for "Lunge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Linie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lunge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,973,433 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Linie" and "Lunge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lübke vs Lunge". 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 #1,973,433 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