Which to use
“Laken” is a noun and “laue” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,291
- “Laken” frequency rank
- #38,872
- “laue” frequency rank
- 74163
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Laken | laue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | großes Tuch, mit dem eine Matratze abgedeckt wird | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lau |
Where the eye mixes Laken and laue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Laken runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against laue's 4 (CVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Laken with laue
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Laken is [ˈlaːkn̩] while laue is [ˈlaʊ̯ə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74163, 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]. laue is at rank #38,872, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯ə].
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 74163, this pair ranks #340,754 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Laken vs laue
Shared letters: ael. Private to "Laken": kn. Private to "laue": u.
"Laken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "laue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Laken" and "laue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "Laken" vs "laue" - which ranks higher?
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 "laue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #340,754 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Laken" and "laue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs laue". 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 #340,754 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.