LastvsLäuseConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,904
“Last” frequency rank
#43,335
“Läuse” frequency rank
46239
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Last Läuse
Definition etwas, was sich durch sein Gewicht nach unten drückt oder zieht; auch Ladung, Fracht; was man trägt Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Laus

Where the eye mixes Last and Läuse

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

4 ch
Last
5 ch
Läuse

Why the eye confuses Last with Läuse

A purely visual mix-up. Last ([last]) and Läuse ([ˈlɔɪ̯zə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46239, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Last is recorded at frequency rank #2,904, classified as anoun, pronounced [last]. Läuse is at rank #43,335, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔɪ̯zə].

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 46239, this pair ranks #1,325,935 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Last vs Läuse

Shared letters: ls. Private to "Last": at. Private to "Läuse": euä.

"Last" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Läuse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lastalst · lasst · lastt · lats · llast · lsat

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Last" for "Läuse" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([last] versus [ˈlɔɪ̯zə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Last" or "Läuse" show up more?
"Last" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,904 in our German list, against #43,335 for "Läuse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Last" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Läuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,325,935 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Last" and "Läuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs Läuse". 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 #1,325,935 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