lamevsLoseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#49,857
“lame” frequency rank
#8,246
“Lose” frequency rank
58103
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lame Lose
Definition dünne Platte, dünne Schicht, Klinge Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Los

Where the eye mixes lame and Lose

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lame
4 ch
Lose

Why the eye confuses lame with Lose

A purely visual mix-up. lame ([lam]) and Lose ([ˈloːzə]) 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 58103, 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]. Lose is at rank #8,246, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈloːzə].

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 58103, this pair ranks #875,690 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lame vs Lose

Shared letters: el. Private to "lame": am. Private to "Lose": os.

"lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Lose" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lamealme · laem · lamme · llame · lmae
  • Losellose · loes · losse · lsoe · olse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lame" and "Lose" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([lam] versus [ˈloːzə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lame" or "Lose"?
"Lose" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,246 in our German list, against #49,857 for "lame". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Lose" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #875,690 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lame" and "Lose" 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 #875,690 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