LauchvslaufeConfusable pair

Quick tell: Lauch is a noun, laufe is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#23,209
“Lauch” frequency rank
#1,851
“laufe” frequency rank
25060
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lauch laufe
Definition Gemüsesorte aus der Gattung Allium in der Familie der Lauchgewächse (Alliaceae) 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs laufen

Where the eye mixes Lauch and laufe

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

5 ch
Lauch
5 ch
laufe

Why the eye confuses Lauch with laufe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lauch is [laʊ̯x] while laufe is [ˈlaʊ̯fə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25060, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lauch is recorded at frequency rank #23,209, classified as anoun, pronounced [laʊ̯x]. laufe is at rank #1,851, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯fə].

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 25060, this pair ranks #1,838,744 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lauch vs laufe

Shared letters: alu. Private to "Lauch": ch. Private to "laufe": ef.

"Lauch" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "laufe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lauchaluch · lacuh · laucch · lauchh · lauhc · llauch · luach
  • laufealufe · lafue · lauef · lauffe · llaufe · luafe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Lauch" and "laufe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lauch" is a noun and "laufe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Lauch" vs "laufe" - which ranks higher?
"laufe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,851 in our German list, against #23,209 for "Lauch". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lauch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "laufe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,838,744 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lauch" and "laufe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lauch vs lauscht". 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 #1,838,744 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