LammvslaxWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Lamm is a noun, lax is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Lamm” is a noun and “lax” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,117
“Lamm” frequency rank
#43,323
“lax” frequency rank
57440
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lamm lax
Definition das junge Schaf nicht streng (in der Auslegung von Regeln)

Where the eye mixes Lamm and lax

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

4 ch
Lamm
3 ch
lax

Why the eye confuses Lamm with lax

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lamm is [lam] while lax is [laks]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57440, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lamm is recorded at frequency rank #14,117, classified as anoun, pronounced [lam]. lax is at rank #43,323, tagged as anadj, pronounced [laks].

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 57440, this pair ranks #901,273 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Lamm vs lax

Shared letters: al. Private to "Lamm": m. Private to "lax": x.

"Lamm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lax" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lammalmm · llamm · lmam

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Lamm" and "lax" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lamm" is a noun and "lax" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Lamm" or "lax" show up more?
"Lamm" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,117 in our German list, against #43,323 for "lax". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Lamm" and "lax" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lamm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lax" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #901,273 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lamm" and "lax" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs lax". 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 #901,273 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