lachvslawsConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#13,884
“lach” frequency rank
#38,251
“laws” frequency rank
52135
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lach laws
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lachen Plural des Substantivs law

Letter map: lach vs laws

Shared letters muted; letters that set lach and laws apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
lach
4 ch
laws

Grammar separator: lach vs laws

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lach is averb and lawsanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lach is recorded at frequency rank #13,884, classified as averb, pronounced [lax]. laws is at rank #38,251, tagged as anoun, 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 52135, this pair ranks #1,108,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lach vs laws

Shared letters: al. Private to "lach": ch. Private to "laws": sw.

"lach" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "laws" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lachalch · lacch · lachh · lahc · lcah · llach
  • lawsalws · lasw · lawss · lawws · llaws · lwas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lach" and "laws" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lach" is a verb and "laws" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "lach" vs "laws" - which ranks higher?
"lach" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,884 in our German list, against #38,251 for "laws". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "lach" vs "laws" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "laws" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,108,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lach" and "laws" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laws vs puzzles". 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 #1,108,687 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