Which to use
“lake” is a noun and “laufe” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,319
- “lake” frequency rank
- #1,851
- “laufe” frequency rank
- 12170
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lake | laufe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Stillgewässer, das vollständig von einer Landfläche umgeben ist; See | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs laufen |
Where the eye mixes lake and laufe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lake runs 4 letters (CVCV) against laufe's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: lake vs laufe
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lake is [leɪk] while laufe is [ˈlaʊ̯fə]. 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 12170, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lake is recorded at frequency rank #10,319, classified as anoun, pronounced [leɪk]. laufe is at rank #1,851, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯fə].
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 12170, this pair ranks #1,965,767 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lake vs laufe
Shared letters: ael. Private to "lake": k. Private to "laufe": fu.
"lake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "laufe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lake" and "laufe" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "lake" or "laufe" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "laufe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,965,767 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lake" and "laufe" 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
Confusion rank #1,965,767 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.