lacvslachtWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#37,041
“lac” frequency rank
#3,827
“lacht” frequency rank
40868
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lac lacht
Definition See 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lachen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lac and lacht apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
lac
5 ch
lacht

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lac is [lak] while lacht is [laxt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “lac” sits inside “lacht”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lac is recorded at frequency rank #37,041, classified as anoun, pronounced [lak]. lacht is at rank #3,827, tagged as averb, pronounced [laxt].

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 40868, this pair ranks #1,496,013 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lac vs lacht

Shared letters: acl. Private to "lac": -. Private to "lacht": ht.

"lac" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "lacht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lachtalcht · laccht · lachht · lachtt · lacth · lahct · lcaht · llacht

Frequency comparison

lac#37,041
lacht#3,827

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lac" and "lacht" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lac" is a noun and "lacht" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lac" or "lacht"?
"lacht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,827 in our German list, against #37,041 for "lac". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lac vs lacht

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “lac”; for a verb, it's “lacht”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lac” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list