LachsvslaxWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Lachs is a noun, lax is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#18,311
“Lachs” frequency rank
#43,323
“lax” frequency rank
61634
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lachs lax
Definition Fische der Gattungen Salmo, Salmothymus und Oncorhynchus aus der Familie der Forellenfische (Salmonidae) innerhalb der Ordnung der Lachsartigen nicht streng (in der Auslegung von Regeln)

Same sound, different letters: Lachs vs lax

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters. Lachs runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against lax's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Lachs
3 ch
lax

Same sound, different spelling - Lachs / lax

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: Lachs and lax carry the same recorded pronunciation, [laks]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61634, 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]. lax is at rank #43,323, tagged as anadj, pronounced [laks].

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 61634, this pair ranks #742,378 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Lachs vs lax

Shared letters: al. Private to "Lachs": chs. Private to "lax": x.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lachs ← alchs · lacchs · lachhs · lachss · lacsh · lahcs · lcahs · llachs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lachs" for "lax" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lachs" is a noun and "lax" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Lachs" or "lax"?
"Lachs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,311 in our German list, against #43,323 for "lax". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lachs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lax" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #742,378 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lachs" and "lax" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs lax". 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 #742,378 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