Which to use
“locken” is a verb and “Lücke” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,692
- “locken” frequency rank
- #6,083
- “Lücke” frequency rank
- 12775
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | locken | Lücke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Locken ins Haar machen | Stelle, an der etwas fehlt, das dort sein sollte oder dort hin kann |
Where the eye mixes locken and Lücke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. locken runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Lücke's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between locken and Lücke
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: locken is [ˈlɔkn̩] while Lücke is [ˈlʏkə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
locken is recorded at frequency rank #6,692, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlɔkn̩]. Lücke is at rank #6,083, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlʏkə].
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 12775, this pair ranks #1,962,114 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of locken vs Lücke
Shared letters: cekl. Private to "locken": no. Private to "Lücke": ü.
"locken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Lücke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- locken ← lcoken · llocken · loccken · locekn · lockenn · lockken · lockne · lokcen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "locken" for "Lücke" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "locken" or "Lücke" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "locken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Lücke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,962,114 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "locken" and "Lücke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Luckau vs Lücke". 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 #1,962,114 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.