LaievslisTell them apart

Which to use

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

#25,639
“Laie” frequency rank
#38,263
“lis” frequency rank
63902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Laie lis
Definition jemand, der auf einem bestimmten Gebiet keine Fachkenntnisse oder keine abgeschlossene Fachausbildung hat Stieleiche

Where the eye mixes Laie and lis

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

4 ch
Laie
3 ch
lis

Visual trap between Laie and lis

A purely visual mix-up. Laie ([ˈlaɪ̯ə]) and lis ([lis]) 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 63902, 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]. lis is at rank #38,263, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lis].

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 63902, this pair ranks #660,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Laie vs lis

Shared letters: il. Private to "Laie": ae. Private to "lis": s.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Laiealie · laei · liae · llaie

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Laie" for "lis" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaɪ̯ə] versus [lis]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Laie" or "lis"?
"Laie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,639 in our German list, against #38,263 for "lis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Laie" and "lis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Laie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #660,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Laie" and "lis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs lis". 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 #660,326 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