lack vs lam, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#12,118
“lack” frequency rank: #31,656
“lam” frequency rank: 43774
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lack	lam
Definition	2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lacken	Genitiv Plural des Substantivs lama

Letter map: lack vs lam

Shared letters muted; letters that set lack and lam apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch

lack

3 ch

lam

Role in the sentence - lack and lam

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lack is averb and lamanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43774, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lack is recorded at frequency rank #12,118, classified as averb, pronounced [lak]. lam is at rank #31,656, 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 43774, this pair ranks #1,407,414 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lack vs lam

Shared letters: al. Private to "lack": ck. Private to "lam": m.

"lack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lam" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

lack ← alck · lacck · lackk · lakc · lcak · llack

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lack" for "lam" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lack" is a verb and "lam" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary German text, does "lack" or "lam" show up more?

"lack" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,118 in our German list, against #31,656 for "lam". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "lack" and "lam".

Full dictionary entry for "lack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "lam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,407,414 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"lack" and "lam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lam 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 #1,407,414 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.