LückenvsLukeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,908
“Lücken” frequency rank
#9,945
“Luke” frequency rank
18853
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lücken Luke
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Lücke eine klappbare Tür; eine verschließbare Öffnung

Where the eye mixes Lücken and Luke

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

6 ch
Lücken
4 ch
Luke

Look-alike desk: Lücken vs Luke

A purely visual mix-up. Lücken ([ˈlʏkn̩]) 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 differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18853, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lücken is recorded at frequency rank #8,908, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlʏkn̩]. 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 18853, this pair ranks #1,914,261 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lücken vs Luke

Shared letters: ekl. Private to "Lücken": cnü. Private to "Luke": u.

"Lücken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Luke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lukelkue · lluke · luek · lukke · ulke

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lücken" for "Luke" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlʏkn̩] versus [ˈluːkə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Lücken" or "Luke" show up more?
"Lücken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,908 in our German list, against #9,945 for "Luke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lücken" 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 #1,914,261 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lücken" and "Luke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs Luke". 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 #1,914,261 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