lukevslungWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: luke is a preposition, lung is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“luke” is a preposition and “lung” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,732
“luke” frequency rank
#46,871
“lung” frequency rank
55603
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature luke lung
Definition Sans considération pour, sans tenir compte de. Poumon.

Where the eye mixes luke and lung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. luke (CVCV) and lung (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
luke
4 ch
lung

Visual trap between luke and lung

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: luke is \ˈlukɛ\ while lung is \lʌŋ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55603, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

luke is recorded at frequency rank #8,732, classified as aprep, pronounced \ˈlukɛ\. lung is at rank #46,871, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lʌŋ\.

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 55603, this pair ranks #126,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of luke vs lung

Shared letters: lu. Private to "luke": ek. Private to "lung": gn.

"luke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • luke ← lkue · lluke · luek · lukke · ulke
  • lung ← llung · lnug · lugn · lungg · lunng · ulng

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "luke" and "lung" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "luke" is a preposition and "lung" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "luke" vs "lung" - which ranks higher?
"luke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,732 in our French list, against #46,871 for "lung". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "luke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #126,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "luke" and "lung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "longo vs lung". 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 #126,424 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list