LagevsLautWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#584
“Lage” frequency rank
#505
“Laut” frequency rank
1089
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lage Laut
Definition Stelle, an der etwas liegt ein Geräusch

Where the eye mixes Lage and Laut

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

4 ch
Lage
4 ch
Laut

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Lage ([ˈlaːɡə]) and Laut ([laʊ̯t]) 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 1089, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lage is recorded at frequency rank #584, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaːɡə]. Laut is at rank #505, tagged as anoun, pronounced [laʊ̯t].

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 1089, this pair ranks #2,004,925 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lage vs Laut

Shared letters: al. Private to "Lage": eg. Private to "Laut": tu.

"Lage" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Laut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lagealge · laeg · lagge · lgae · llage
  • Lautalut · latu · lautt · llaut · luat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Lage" and "Laut" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaːɡə] versus [laʊ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Lage" or "Laut"?
"Laut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #505 in our German list, against #584 for "Lage". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Lage" and "Laut". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Laut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,004,925 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lage" and "Laut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lage 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list