LückenvsLumpenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,908
“Lücken” frequency rank
#26,092
“Lumpen” frequency rank
35000
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lücken Lumpen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Lücke altes, verschlissenes, verschmutztes Stück Stoff

Where the eye mixes Lücken and Lumpen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Lücken and Lumpen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Lücken
6 ch
Lumpen

Look-alike desk: Lücken vs Lumpen

A purely visual mix-up. Lücken ([ˈlʏkn̩]) and Lumpen ([ˈlʊmpn̩]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35000, 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]. Lumpen is at rank #26,092, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlʊmpn̩].

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 35000, this pair ranks #1,650,384 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lücken vs Lumpen

Shared letters: eln. Private to "Lücken": ckü. Private to "Lumpen": mpu.

"Lücken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Lumpen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lumpen ← llumpen · lmupen · lumepn · lummpen · lumpenn · lumpne · lumppen · lupmen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lücken" for "Lumpen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlʏkn̩] versus [ˈlʊmpn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Lücken" or "Lumpen"?
"Lücken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,908 in our German list, against #26,092 for "Lumpen". 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 "Lumpen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,650,384 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lücken" and "Lumpen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lümmel vs Lumpen". 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 #1,650,384 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