lachenvslandenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,486
“lachen” frequency rank
#3,755
“landen” frequency rank
5241
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lachen landen
Definition wegen Belustigung den Mund öffnen und Laute ausstoßen mit einem Wasserfahrzeug ans Land gelangen

Where the eye mixes lachen and landen

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

6 ch
lachen
6 ch
landen

Visual trap between lachen and landen

A purely visual mix-up. lachen ([ˈlaxn̩]) and landen ([ˈlandn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lachen is recorded at frequency rank #1,486, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaxn̩]. landen is at rank #3,755, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlandn̩].

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 5241, this pair ranks #1,995,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lachen vs landen

Shared letters: aeln. Private to "lachen": ch. Private to "landen": d.

"lachen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "landen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lachenalchen · lacchen · lacehn · lachenn · lachhen · lachne · lahcen · lcahen
  • landenalnden · ladnen · landden · landenn · landne · lanedn · lannden · llanden

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lachen" for "landen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaxn̩] versus [ˈlandn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lachen" or "landen"?
"lachen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,486 in our German list, against #3,755 for "landen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lachen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "landen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,995,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lachen" and "landen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "landen vs lenzen". 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 #1,995,381 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