Which to use
“lake” and “lie” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,319
- “lake” frequency rank
- #16,480
- “lie” frequency rank
- 26799
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lake | lie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Stillgewässer, das vollständig von einer Landfläche umgeben ist; See | Bodensatz eines flüssigen Körpers |
Where the eye mixes lake and lie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lake vs lie
A purely visual mix-up. lake ([leɪk]) and lie ([li]) 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 26799, 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]. lie is at rank #16,480, tagged as anoun, pronounced [li].
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 26799, this pair ranks #1,812,191 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lake vs lie
Shared letters: el. Private to "lake": ak. Private to "lie": i.
"lake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lie" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lake ← alke · laek · lakke · lkae · llake
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lake" and "lie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "lake" or "lie" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "lake" and "lie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,812,191 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lake" and "lie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs lie". 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 #1,812,191 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.