Which to use
“lame” is a noun and “laue” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,857
- “lame” frequency rank
- #38,872
- “laue” frequency rank
- 88729
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lame | laue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dünne Platte, dünne Schicht, Klinge | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lau |
Where the eye mixes lame and laue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lame (CVCV) and laue (CVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses lame with laue
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lame is [lam] while laue is [ˈlaʊ̯ə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - m in “lame” becomes u in “laue”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88729, 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]. 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 88729, this pair ranks #65,092 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lame vs laue
Shared letters: ael. Private to "lame": m. Private to "laue": u.
"lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "laue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lame" and "laue" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "lame" vs "laue" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lame" 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 #65,092 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lame" and "laue" 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 #65,092 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.