labervsLasterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: laber is a verb, Laster is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“laber” is a verb and “Laster” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,469
“laber” frequency rank
#11,691
“Laster” frequency rank
48160
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laber Laster
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs labern eine schlechte Angewohnheit

Where the eye mixes laber and Laster

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
laber
6 ch
Laster

Look-alike desk: laber vs Laster

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laber is [ˈlaːbɐ] while Laster is [ˈlastɐ]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laber is recorded at frequency rank #36,469, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaːbɐ]. Laster is at rank #11,691, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlastɐ].

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 48160, this pair ranks #1,258,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of laber vs Laster

Shared letters: aelr. Private to "laber": b. Private to "Laster": st.

"laber" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Laster" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laberalber · labber · laberr · labre · laebr · lbaer · llaber
  • Lasterlasetr · lasster · lasterr · lastre · lastter · latser · llaster · lsater

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "laber" for "Laster" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "laber" is a verb and "Laster" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "laber" or "Laster" show up more?
"Laster" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,691 in our German list, against #36,469 for "laber". 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 "laber" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Laster" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,258,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laber" and "Laster" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laber vs Lasern". 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 #1,258,659 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