ladevslamWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#9,399
“lade” frequency rank
#31,656
“lam” frequency rank
41055
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lade lam
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs laden Genitiv Plural des Substantivs lama

Letter map: lade vs lam

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

4 ch
lade
3 ch
lam

Role in the sentence - lade and lam

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lade is averb and lamanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41055, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lade is recorded at frequency rank #9,399, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaːdə]. 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 41055, this pair ranks #1,490,671 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lade vs lam

Shared letters: al. Private to "lade": de. Private to "lam": m.

"lade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lam" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ladealde · ladde · laed · ldae · llade

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lade" and "lam" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lade" is a verb and "lam" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lade" or "lam"?
"lade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,399 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lade" 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 #1,490,671 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lade" 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 #1,490,671 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