LuftvslunaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#818
“Luft” frequency rank
#13,893
“luna” frequency rank
14711
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Luft luna
Definition überwiegend aus Stickstoff und Sauerstoff bestehendes Gasgemisch, das Lebewesen zum Atmen benötigen natürlich entstandener Himmelskörper, der einen Planeten, Zwergplaneten oder auch einen Kleinkörper wie einen Asteroiden umkreist

Where the eye mixes Luft and luna

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

4 ch
Luft
4 ch
luna

Look-alike desk: Luft vs luna

A purely visual mix-up. Luft ([lʊft]) and luna ([ˈluːna]) 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 14711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Luft is recorded at frequency rank #818, classified as anoun, pronounced [lʊft]. luna is at rank #13,893, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈluːna].

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 14711, this pair ranks #1,949,284 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Luft vs luna

Shared letters: lu. Private to "Luft": ft. Private to "luna": an.

"Luft" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "luna" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Luftlfut · lluft · lufft · luftt · lutf · ulft
  • lunalluna · lnua · luan · lunna · ulna

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Luft" for "luna" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([lʊft] versus [ˈluːna]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Luft" or "luna"?
"Luft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #818 in our German list, against #13,893 for "luna". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Luft" and "luna" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Luft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "luna" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,949,284 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Luft" and "luna" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lada vs luna". 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 #1,949,284 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