lakevsLäuseConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#10,319
“lake” frequency rank
#43,335
“Läuse” frequency rank
53654
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lake Läuse
Definition Stillgewässer, das vollständig von einer Landfläche umgeben ist; See Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Laus

Where the eye mixes lake and Läuse

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

4 ch
lake
5 ch
Läuse

Why the eye confuses lake with Läuse

A purely visual mix-up. lake ([leɪk]) and Läuse ([ˈlɔɪ̯zə]) 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 53654, 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]. Läuse is at rank #43,335, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔɪ̯zə].

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 53654, this pair ranks #1,049,609 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lake vs Läuse

Shared letters: el. Private to "lake": ak. Private to "Läuse": suä.

"lake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Läuse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lakealke · laek · lakke · lkae · llake

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lake" and "Läuse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([leɪk] versus [ˈlɔɪ̯zə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lake" vs "Läuse" - which ranks higher?
"lake" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,319 in our German list, against #43,335 for "Läuse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Läuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,049,609 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lake" and "Läuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs Läuse". 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 #1,049,609 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