lamevsloveWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#49,857
“lame” frequency rank
#2,844
“love” frequency rank
52701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lame love
Definition dünne Platte, dünne Schicht, Klinge innige Zuneigung für jemanden oder etwas; Liebe

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lame and love apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
lame
4 ch
love

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. lame ([lam]) and love ([lʌv]) 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 52701, 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]. love is at rank #2,844, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lʌv].

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 52701, this pair ranks #1,086,645 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lame vs love

Shared letters: el. Private to "lame": am. Private to "love": ov.

"lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "love" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lamealme · laem · lamme · llame · lmae
  • lovellove · loev · lovve · lvoe · olve

Frequency comparison

lame#49,857
love#2,844

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lame" and "love" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([lam] versus [lʌv]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lame" or "love"?
"love" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,844 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.

Remembering lame vs love

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lame” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list