LagervslakeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,895
“Lager” frequency rank
#10,319
“lake” frequency rank
12214
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lager lake
Definition Raum oder Gebäude zur geordneten Unterbringung von Waren Stillgewässer, das vollständig von einer Landfläche umgeben ist; See

Where the eye mixes Lager and lake

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Lager
4 ch
lake

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Lager ([ˈlaːɡɐ]) and lake ([leɪk]) 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 12214, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lager is recorded at frequency rank #1,895, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaːɡɐ]. lake is at rank #10,319, tagged as anoun, pronounced [leɪk].

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 12214, this pair ranks #1,965,515 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lager vs lake

Shared letters: ael. Private to "Lager": gr. Private to "lake": k.

"Lager" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lageralger · laegr · lagerr · lagger · lagre · lgaer · llager
  • lakealke · laek · lakke · lkae · llake

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Lager" and "lake" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaːɡɐ] versus [leɪk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Lager" or "lake"?
"Lager" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,895 in our German list, against #10,319 for "lake". 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 "Lager" and "lake". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lager" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,965,515 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lager" and "lake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lake 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