LampevsLauteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,203
“Lampe” frequency rank
#6,948
“Laute” frequency rank
14151
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lampe Laute
Definition Licht- oder Leuchtmittel, bei dem Licht durch Energieumwandlung erzeugt wird Saiteninstrument mit birnenförmigem Korpus und angesetztem Hals

Where the eye mixes Lampe and Laute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Lampe
5 ch
Laute

Visual trap between Lampe and Laute

A purely visual mix-up. Lampe ([ˈlampə]) and Laute ([ˈlaʊ̯tə]) 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 14151, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lampe is recorded at frequency rank #7,203, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlampə]. Laute is at rank #6,948, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯tə].

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 14151, this pair ranks #1,953,211 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lampe vs Laute

Shared letters: ael. Private to "Lampe": mp. Private to "Laute": tu.

"Lampe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Laute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lampealmpe · lamep · lammpe · lamppe · lapme · llampe · lmape
  • Lautealute · latue · lauet · llaute · luate

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Lampe" and "Laute" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlampə] versus [ˈlaʊ̯tə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Lampe" vs "Laute" - which ranks higher?
"Laute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,948 in our German list, against #7,203 for "Lampe". 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 "Lampe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Laute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,953,211 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lampe" and "Laute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs Lampe". 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 #1,953,211 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