Which to use
“lade” is a verb and “lame” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,399
- “lade” frequency rank
- #49,857
- “lame” frequency rank
- 59256
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lade | lame |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs laden | dünne Platte, dünne Schicht, Klinge |
Where the eye mixes lade and lame
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lade and lame follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: lade vs lame
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lade is [ˈlaːdə] while lame is [lam]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “lade” becomes m in “lame”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59256, 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]. lame is at rank #49,857, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lam].
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 59256, this pair ranks #831,382 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lade vs lame
Shared letters: ael. Private to "lade": d. Private to "lame": m.
"lade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lade" for "lame" ever safe?
Which is more common, "lade" or "lame"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #831,382 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lade" and "lame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lähmt 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 #831,382 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.