luckvsLukeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,957
“luck” frequency rank
#9,945
“Luke” frequency rank
36902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature luck Luke
Definition Glück eine klappbare Tür; eine verschließbare Öffnung

Where the eye mixes luck and Luke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
luck
4 ch
Luke

Visual trap between luck and Luke

A purely visual mix-up. luck ([lʌk]) and Luke ([ˈluːkə]) 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 36902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

luck is recorded at frequency rank #26,957, classified as anoun, pronounced [lʌk]. Luke is at rank #9,945, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈluːkə].

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 36902, this pair ranks #1,603,784 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of luck vs Luke

Shared letters: klu. Private to "luck": c. Private to "Luke": e.

"luck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Luke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lucklcuk · lluck · lucck · luckk · lukc · ulck
  • Lukelkue · lluke · luek · lukke · ulke

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "luck" for "Luke" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([lʌk] versus [ˈluːkə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "luck" vs "Luke" - which ranks higher?
"Luke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,945 in our German list, against #26,957 for "luck". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "luck" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Luke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,603,784 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "luck" and "Luke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "luck vs Luckau". 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 #1,603,784 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