luivslunaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lui is a pronoun, luna is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lui” is a pronoun and “luna” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,056
“lui” frequency rank
#13,893
“luna” frequency rank
57949
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lui luna
Definition er natürlich entstandener Himmelskörper, der einen Planeten, Zwergplaneten oder auch einen Kleinkörper wie einen Asteroiden umkreist

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lui and luna apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
lui
4 ch
luna

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lui is [lɥi] while luna is [ˈluːna]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lui is recorded at frequency rank #44,056, classified as apron, pronounced [lɥi]. 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 57949, this pair ranks #881,547 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lui vs luna

Shared letters: lu. Private to "lui": i. Private to "luna": an.

"lui" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "luna" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lunalluna · lnua · luan · lunna · ulna

Frequency comparison

lui#44,056
luna#13,893

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lui" and "luna" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lui" is a pronoun and "luna" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lui" or "luna"?
"luna" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,893 in our German list, against #44,056 for "lui". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lui vs luna

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “lui”; for a noun, it's “luna”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lui” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list