Which to use
“laue” is an adjective and “lauern” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,872
- “laue” frequency rank
- #23,210
- “lauern” frequency rank
- 62082
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laue | lauern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lau | im Hintergrund beobachten, ausspähen |
Where the eye mixes laue and lauern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. laue runs 4 letters (CVVV) against lauern's 6 (CVVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: laue vs lauern
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laue is [ˈlaʊ̯ə] while lauern is [ˈlaʊ̯ɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “laue” sits inside “lauern”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62082, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laue is recorded at frequency rank #38,872, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯ə]. lauern is at rank #23,210, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯ɐn].
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 62082, this pair ranks #725,849 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laue vs lauern
Shared letters: aelu. Private to "laue": -. Private to "lauern": nr.
"laue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "lauern" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "laue" and "lauern" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "laue" or "lauern" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "laue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lauern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #725,849 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laue" and "lauern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs laue". 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 #725,849 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.