Which to use
“Laken” and “lame” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,291
- “Laken” frequency rank
- #49,857
- “lame” frequency rank
- 85148
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Laken | lame |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | großes Tuch, mit dem eine Matratze abgedeckt wird | dünne Platte, dünne Schicht, Klinge |
Where the eye mixes Laken and lame
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Laken runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against lame's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Laken vs lame
A purely visual mix-up. Laken ([ˈlaːkn̩]) and lame ([lam]) 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 85148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Laken is recorded at frequency rank #35,291, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaːkn̩]. lame is at rank #49,857, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lam].
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 85148, this pair ranks #112,664 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Laken vs lame
Shared letters: ael. Private to "Laken": kn. Private to "lame": m.
"Laken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Laken" for "lame" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Laken" or "lame" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Laken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #112,664 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Laken" and "lame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lähmt 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 #112,664 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.