Which to use
“Laken” and “Lampen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,291
- “Laken” frequency rank
- #11,083
- “Lampen” frequency rank
- 46374
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Laken | Lampen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | großes Tuch, mit dem eine Matratze abgedeckt wird | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Lampe |
Where the eye mixes Laken and Lampen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Laken runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Lampen's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Laken with Lampen
A purely visual mix-up. Laken ([ˈlaːkn̩]) and Lampen ([ˈlampn̩]) 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 46374, 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]. Lampen is at rank #11,083, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlampn̩].
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 46374, this pair ranks #1,321,243 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Laken vs Lampen
Shared letters: aeln. Private to "Laken": k. Private to "Lampen": mp.
"Laken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "Lampen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Laken" for "Lampen" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Laken" or "Lampen" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Laken" and "Lampen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Laken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Lampen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,321,243 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Laken" and "Lampen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Laken vs Lasern". 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 #1,321,243 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.