labervslowerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,469
“laber” frequency rank
#32,156
“lower” frequency rank
68625
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laber lower
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs labern niederlassen, niedrig machen, runtermachen

Letter map: laber vs lower

Shared letters muted; letters that set laber and lower apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. laber and lower follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
laber
5 ch
lower

Corpus notes: laber and lower

laber and lower are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68625, 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]. lower is at rank #32,156, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 68625, this pair ranks #501,944 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laber vs lower

Shared letters: elr. Private to "laber": ab. Private to "lower": ow.

"laber" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lower" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laber ← alber · labber · laberr · labre · laebr · lbaer · llaber
  • lower ← llower · loewr · lowerr · lowre · lowwer · lwoer · olwer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laber" and "lower" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "laber" vs "lower" - which ranks higher?
"lower" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,156 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

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "laber" and "lower".

  • Full dictionary entry for "laber" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lower" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #501,944 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laber" and "lower" 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 #501,944 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