Which to use
“lame” is a noun and “le” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,857
- “lame” frequency rank
- #1,852
- “le” frequency rank
- 51709
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lame | le |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dünne Platte, dünne Schicht, Klinge | der, die, das |
Where the eye mixes lame and le
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lame vs le
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lame is [lam] while le is [lə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51709, 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]. le is at rank #1,852, tagged as adet, pronounced [lə].
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 51709, this pair ranks #1,125,108 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lame vs le
Shared letters: el. Private to "lame": am. Private to "le": -.
"lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "le" · 2 letters · shape CV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lame ← alme · laem · lamme · llame · lmae
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lame" and "le" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "lame" vs "le" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "lame" and "le" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "le" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,125,108 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lame" and "le" 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 #1,125,108 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.