LandvsLaufWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#313
“Land” frequency rank
#1,737
“Lauf” frequency rank
2050
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Land Lauf
Definition die nicht von Meer bedeckte Erdoberfläche schnelle Fortbewegung zu Fuß, bei der kurzzeitig kein Bodenkontakt besteht

Where the eye mixes Land and Lauf

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

4 ch
Land
4 ch
Lauf

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Land ([lant]) and Lauf ([laʊ̯f]) 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 2050, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Land is recorded at frequency rank #313, classified as anoun, pronounced [lant]. Lauf is at rank #1,737, tagged as anoun, pronounced [laʊ̯f].

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 2050, this pair ranks #2,003,211 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Land vs Lauf

Shared letters: al. Private to "Land": dn. Private to "Lauf": fu.

"Land" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Lauf" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Landalnd · ladn · landd · lannd · lland · lnad
  • Laufaluf · lafu · lauff · llauf · luaf

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Land" and "Lauf" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([lant] versus [laʊ̯f]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Land" or "Lauf"?
"Land" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #313 in our German list, against #1,737 for "Lauf". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Land" and "Lauf". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Land" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lauf" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,003,211 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Land" and "Lauf" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs Lauf". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list