ladetvsläuftTell them apart

Which to use

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

#34,229
“ladet” frequency rank
#585
“läuft” frequency rank
34814
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ladet läuft
Definition 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs laden 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs laufen

Where the eye mixes ladet and läuft

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ladet
5 ch
läuft

Why the eye confuses ladet with läuft

A purely visual mix-up. ladet ([ˈlaːdət]) and läuft ([lɔɪ̯ft]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ladet is recorded at frequency rank #34,229, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaːdət]. läuft is at rank #585, tagged as averb, pronounced [lɔɪ̯ft].

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 34814, this pair ranks #1,654,663 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ladet vs läuft

Shared letters: lt. Private to "ladet": ade. Private to "läuft": fuä.

"ladet" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "läuft" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ladetaldet · laddet · ladett · ladte · laedt · ldaet · lladet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ladet" for "läuft" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaːdət] versus [lɔɪ̯ft]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ladet" vs "läuft" - which ranks higher?
"läuft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #585 in our German list, against #34,229 for "ladet". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ladet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "läuft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,654,663 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ladet" and "läuft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ladet vs lähmt". 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 #1,654,663 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