LaievslasTell them apart

Quick tell: Laie is a noun, las is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Laie” is a noun and “las” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,639
“Laie” frequency rank
#3,265
“las” frequency rank
28904
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Laie las
Definition jemand, der auf einem bestimmten Gebiet keine Fachkenntnisse oder keine abgeschlossene Fachausbildung hat 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs lesen

Where the eye mixes Laie and las

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

4 ch
Laie
3 ch
las

Look-alike desk: Laie vs las

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Laie is [ˈlaɪ̯ə] while las is [laːs]. 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 28904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Laie is recorded at frequency rank #25,639, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯ə]. las is at rank #3,265, tagged as averb, pronounced [laːs].

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 28904, this pair ranks #1,776,495 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Laie vs las

Shared letters: al. Private to "Laie": ei. Private to "las": s.

"Laie" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "las" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Laiealie · laei · liae · llaie

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Laie" and "las" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Laie" is a noun and "las" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Laie" or "las"?
"las" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,265 in our German list, against #25,639 for "Laie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Laie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "las" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,776,495 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Laie" and "las" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Laie 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 #1,776,495 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