lakevsLoksWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,319
“lake” frequency rank
#41,325
“Loks” frequency rank
51644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes lake and Loks

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

4 ch
lake
4 ch
Loks

Why the eye confuses lake with Loks

A purely visual mix-up. lake ([leɪk]) and Loks ([lɔks]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51644, 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]. Loks is at rank #41,325, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lɔks].

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 51644, this pair ranks #1,127,706 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lake vs Loks

Shared letters: kl. Private to "lake": ae. Private to "Loks": os.

"lake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Loks" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lakealke · laek · lakke · lkae · llake
  • Lokslloks · lokks · lokss · losk · olks

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lake" for "Loks" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([leɪk] versus [lɔks]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lake" or "Loks"?
"lake" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,319 in our German list, against #41,325 for "Loks". 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 "Loks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,127,706 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lake" and "Loks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Loks vs Loses". 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 #1,127,706 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