Which to use
“lame” and “Lamm” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,857
- “lame” frequency rank
- #14,117
- “Lamm” frequency rank
- 63974
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lame | Lamm |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dünne Platte, dünne Schicht, Klinge | das junge Schaf |
Same sound, different letters: lame vs Lamm
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. lame (CVCV) and Lamm (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Ear matches; page differs - lame and Lamm
This is the hard kind. lame and Lamm are pronounced identically ([lam]) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - e in “lame” becomes m in “Lamm”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63974, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lame is recorded at frequency rank #49,857, classified as anoun, pronounced [lam]. Lamm is at rank #14,117, 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 63974, this pair ranks #657,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lame vs Lamm
Shared letters: alm. Private to "lame": e. Private to "Lamm": -.
"lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "Lamm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lame" for "Lamm" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "lame" or "Lamm" show up more?
What to do next
"lame" and "Lamm" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "lame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Lamm" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #657,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lame" and "Lamm" 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 #657,780 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.