Which to use
“lac” and “lame” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,041
- “lac” frequency rank
- #49,857
- “lame” frequency rank
- 86898
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lac | lame |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | See | dünne Platte, dünne Schicht, Klinge |
Where the eye mixes lac and lame
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lac runs 3 letters (CVC) against lame's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses lac with lame
A purely visual mix-up. lac ([lak]) and lame ([lam]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86898, 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]. lame is at rank #49,857, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lam].
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 86898, this pair ranks #87,485 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lac vs lame
Shared letters: al. Private to "lac": c. Private to "lame": em.
"lac" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lame ← alme · laem · lamme · llame · lmae
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lac" and "lame" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "lac" or "lame" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lac" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #87,485 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lac" and "lame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lähmt vs lame". 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 #87,485 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.