LagevsLäuseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#584
“Lage” frequency rank
#43,335
“Läuse” frequency rank
43919
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lage Läuse
Definition Stelle, an der etwas liegt Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Laus

Where the eye mixes Lage and Läuse

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

4 ch
Lage
5 ch
Läuse

Visual trap between Lage and Läuse

A purely visual mix-up. Lage ([ˈlaːɡə]) and Läuse ([ˈlɔɪ̯zə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lage is recorded at frequency rank #584, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaːɡə]. Läuse is at rank #43,335, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔɪ̯zə].

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 43919, this pair ranks #1,402,828 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Lage vs Läuse

Shared letters: el. Private to "Lage": ag. Private to "Läuse": suä.

"Lage" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Läuse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lagealge · laeg · lagge · lgae · llage

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Lage" and "Läuse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaːɡə] versus [ˈlɔɪ̯zə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Lage" or "Läuse"?
"Lage" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #584 in our German list, against #43,335 for "Läuse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Läuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,402,828 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lage" and "Läuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs Läuse". 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 #1,402,828 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