Which to use
“Lai” is a noun and “leak” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,552
- “Lai” frequency rank
- #38,874
- “leak” frequency rank
- 86426
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Lai | leak |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | reines Instrumentalstück der mittelalterlichen französischen Musik | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs leaken |
Where the eye mixes Lai and leak
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Lai runs 3 letters (CVV) against leak's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Lai vs leak
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lai is [lɛː] while leak is [liːk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86426, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Lai is recorded at frequency rank #47,552, classified as anoun, pronounced [lɛː]. leak is at rank #38,874, tagged as averb, pronounced [liːk].
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 86426, this pair ranks #93,963 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Lai vs leak
Shared letters: al. Private to "Lai": i. Private to "leak": ek.
"Lai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "leak" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- leak ← elak · leakk · leka · lleak
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Lai" for "leak" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Lai" or "leak" show up more?
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 "Lai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leak" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #93,963 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Lai" and "leak" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lai 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 #93,963 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.