LackevsLaubeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,413
“Lacke” frequency rank
#30,171
“Laube” frequency rank
75584
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lacke Laube
Definition kleine Flüssigkeitsansammlung; Ansammlung von Regenwasser, Pfütze, kleines Gewässer kleines offenes oder geschlossenes Gartenhaus zum vorübergehenden Aufenthalt von Personen oder zum Unterstellen von Geräten

Where the eye mixes Lacke and Laube

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Lacke (CVCCV) and Laube (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Lacke
5 ch
Laube

Why the eye confuses Lacke with Laube

A purely visual mix-up. Lacke ([ˈlakə]) and Laube ([ˈlaʊ̯bə]) 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 75584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lacke is recorded at frequency rank #45,413, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlakə]. Laube is at rank #30,171, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯bə].

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 75584, this pair ranks #304,438 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Lacke vs Laube

Shared letters: ael. Private to "Lacke": ck. Private to "Laube": bu.

"Lacke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Laube" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lacke ← alcke · laccke · lacek · lackke · lakce · lcake · llacke
  • Laube ← alube · labue · laubbe · laueb · llaube · luabe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lacke" for "Laube" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlakə] versus [ˈlaʊ̯bə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Lacke" or "Laube" show up more?
"Laube" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,171 in our German list, against #45,413 for "Lacke". 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 "Lacke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Laube" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #304,438 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lacke" and "Laube" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lacke vs lame". 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 #304,438 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