LakenvsLasernWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,291
“Laken” frequency rank
#49,860
“Lasern” frequency rank
85151
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Laken Lasern
Definition großes Tuch, mit dem eine Matratze abgedeckt wird Dativ Plural des Substantivs Laser

Where the eye mixes Laken and Lasern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Laken runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Lasern's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Laken
6 ch
Lasern

Visual trap between Laken and Lasern

A purely visual mix-up. Laken ([ˈlaːkn̩]) and Lasern ([ˈlɛɪ̯zɐn]) 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 85151, 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]. Lasern is at rank #49,860, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛɪ̯zɐn].

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 85151, this pair ranks #112,616 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Laken vs Lasern

Shared letters: aeln. Private to "Laken": k. Private to "Lasern": rs.

"Laken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Lasern" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Laken ← alken · laekn · lakenn · lakken · lakne · lkaen · llaken
  • Lasern ← alsern · laesrn · lasenr · lasernn · laserrn · lasren · lassern · llasern

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Laken" for "Lasern" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaːkn̩] versus [ˈlɛɪ̯zɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Laken" vs "Lasern" - which ranks higher?
"Laken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,291 in our German list, against #49,860 for "Lasern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Laken" and "Lasern" 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 "Lasern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #112,616 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Laken" and "Lasern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lasern vs Läufern". 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 #112,616 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