LarsvslasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Lars is a name, las is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Lars” is a name and “las” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,081
“Lars” frequency rank
#3,265
“las” frequency rank
9346
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lars las
Definition männlicher Vorname 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs lesen

Where the eye mixes Lars and las

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

4 ch
Lars
3 ch
las

Visual trap between Lars and las

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lars is [laʁs] while las is [laːs]. 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 (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lars is recorded at frequency rank #6,081, classified as aname, pronounced [laʁs]. las is at rank #3,265, tagged as averb, pronounced [laːs].

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 9346, this pair ranks #1,980,398 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lars vs las

Shared letters: als. Private to "Lars": r. Private to "las": -.

"Lars" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "las" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Larsalrs · larrs · larss · lasr · llars · lras

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lars" for "las" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lars" is a name and "las" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Lars" or "las" show up more?
"las" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,265 in our German list, against #6,081 for "Lars". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lars" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "las" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,980,398 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lars" and "las" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs Lars". 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 #1,980,398 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