Which to use
“löst” is a verb and “Lust” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,389
- “löst” frequency rank
- #1,205
- “Lust” frequency rank
- 4594
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | löst | Lust |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lösen | Verlangen, Wunsch nach etwas |
Where the eye mixes löst and Lust
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. löst and Lust follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses löst with Lust
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: löst is [løːst] while Lust is [lʊst]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - ö in “löst” becomes u in “Lust”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4594, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
löst is recorded at frequency rank #3,389, classified as averb, pronounced [løːst]. Lust is at rank #1,205, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lʊst].
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 4594, this pair ranks #1,997,261 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of löst vs Lust
Shared letters: lst. Private to "löst": ö. Private to "Lust": u.
"löst" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "Lust" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Lust ← llust · lsut · lusst · lustt · luts · ulst
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "löst" and "Lust" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "löst" or "Lust" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "löst" and "Lust" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "löst" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Lust" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,997,261 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "löst" and "Lust" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Loses vs löst". 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 #1,997,261 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.