LotvsLuftWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,628
“Lot” frequency rank
#818
“Luft” frequency rank
15446
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lot Luft
Definition zulaufendes Blei- oder Stahlgewicht an einer Schnur zur Bestimmung der Senkrechten überwiegend aus Stickstoff und Sauerstoff bestehendes Gasgemisch, das Lebewesen zum Atmen benötigen

Where the eye mixes Lot and Luft

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
Lot
4 ch
Luft

Visual trap between Lot and Luft

A purely visual mix-up. Lot ([loːt]) and Luft ([lʊft]) 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 15446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lot is recorded at frequency rank #14,628, classified as anoun, pronounced [loːt]. Luft is at rank #818, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lʊft].

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 15446, this pair ranks #1,943,814 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lot vs Luft

Shared letters: lt. Private to "Lot": o. Private to "Luft": fu.

"Lot" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Luft" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Luftlfut · lluft · lufft · luftt · lutf · ulft

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lot" for "Luft" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([loːt] versus [lʊft]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Lot" vs "Luft" - which ranks higher?
"Luft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #818 in our German list, against #14,628 for "Lot". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Luft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,943,814 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lot" and "Luft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lori vs Lot". 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 #1,943,814 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