lamevsLautConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#49,857
“lame” frequency rank
#505
“Laut” frequency rank
50362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lame Laut
Definition dünne Platte, dünne Schicht, Klinge ein Geräusch

Where the eye mixes lame and Laut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lame (CVCV) and Laut (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
lame
4 ch
Laut

Look-alike desk: lame vs Laut

A purely visual mix-up. lame ([lam]) and Laut ([laʊ̯t]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50362, 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]. Laut is at rank #505, tagged as anoun, pronounced [laʊ̯t].

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 50362, this pair ranks #1,176,546 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lame vs Laut

Shared letters: al. Private to "lame": em. Private to "Laut": tu.

"lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Laut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lame ← alme · laem · lamme · llame · lmae
  • Laut ← alut · latu · lautt · llaut · luat

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lame" and "Laut" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([lam] versus [laʊ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lame" or "Laut"?
"Laut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #505 in our German list, against #49,857 for "lame". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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 "Laut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,176,546 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lame" and "Laut" 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 #1,176,546 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