LachsvslasWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#18,311
“Lachs” frequency rank
#3,265
“las” frequency rank
21576
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lachs las
Definition Fische der Gattungen Salmo, Salmothymus und Oncorhynchus aus der Familie der Forellenfische (Salmonidae) innerhalb der Ordnung der Lachsartigen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs lesen

Where the eye mixes Lachs and las

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Lachs
3 ch
las

Look-alike desk: Lachs vs las

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lachs is [laks] while las is [laːs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21576, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lachs is recorded at frequency rank #18,311, classified as anoun, pronounced [laks]. las is at rank #3,265, tagged as averb, pronounced [laːs].

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 21576, this pair ranks #1,884,624 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lachs vs las

Shared letters: als. Private to "Lachs": ch. Private to "las": -.

"Lachs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "las" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lachsalchs · lacchs · lachhs · lachss · lacsh · lahcs · lcahs · llachs

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Lachs" and "las" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lachs" is a noun and "las" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Lachs" or "las" show up more?
"las" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,265 in our German list, against #18,311 for "Lachs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lachs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "las" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,884,624 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lachs" and "las" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lachs vs Lamas". 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 #1,884,624 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