Which to use
“Luft” and “Lust” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #818
- “Luft” frequency rank
- #1,205
- “Lust” frequency rank
- 2023
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Luft | Lust |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | überwiegend aus Stickstoff und Sauerstoff bestehendes Gasgemisch, das Lebewesen zum Atmen benötigen | Verlangen, Wunsch nach etwas |
Where the eye mixes Luft and Lust
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Luft with Lust
A purely visual mix-up. Luft ([lʊft]) and Lust ([lʊst]) 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 a single letter - f in “Luft” becomes s in “Lust”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Luft is recorded at frequency rank #818, classified as anoun, pronounced [lʊft]. Lust is at rank #1,205, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lʊst].
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 2023, this pair ranks #2,003,265 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Luft vs Lust
Shared letters: ltu. Private to "Luft": f. Private to "Lust": s.
"Luft" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "Lust" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Luft" and "Lust" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Luft" or "Lust" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Luft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Lust" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,003,265 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Luft" and "Lust" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lädst vs Lust". 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 #2,003,265 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.