lässt vs laws, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“lässt” is a verb and “laws” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#318
“lässt” frequency rank: #38,251
“laws” frequency rank: 38569
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lässt	laws
Definition	2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lassen	Plural des Substantivs law

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

lässt

4 ch

laws

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lässt is averb and lawsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38569, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lässt is recorded at frequency rank #318, classified as averb, pronounced [lɛst]. laws is at rank #38,251, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 38569, this pair ranks #1,560,460 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lässt vs laws

Shared letters: ls. Private to "lässt": tä. Private to "laws": aw.

"lässt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "laws" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

laws ← alws · lasw · lawss · lawws · llaws · lwas

Frequency comparison

lässt#318

laws#38,251

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lässt" and "laws" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lässt" is a verb and "laws" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "lässt" or "laws"?

"lässt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #318 in our German list, against #38,251 for "laws". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering lässt vs laws

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “lässt”; for a noun, it's “laws”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lässt” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable