lachenvsLattenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,486
“lachen” frequency rank
#41,309
“Latten” frequency rank
42795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lachen Latten
Definition wegen Belustigung den Mund öffnen und Laute ausstoßen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Latte

Where the eye mixes lachen and Latten

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

6 ch
lachen
6 ch
Latten

Visual trap between lachen and Latten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lachen is [ˈlaxn̩] while Latten is [ˈlatn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42795, 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]. Latten is at rank #41,309, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlatn̩].

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 42795, this pair ranks #1,438,212 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lachen vs Latten

Shared letters: aeln. Private to "lachen": ch. Private to "Latten": t.

"lachen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Latten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lachenalchen · lacchen · lacehn · lachenn · lachhen · lachne · lahcen · lcahen
  • Lattenlattenn · lattne · llatten · ltaten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lachen" and "Latten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lachen" is a verb and "Latten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "lachen" vs "Latten" - which ranks higher?
"lachen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,486 in our German list, against #41,309 for "Latten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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 "Latten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,438,212 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lachen" and "Latten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Laatzen vs Latten". 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 #1,438,212 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