lauevsLautConfusable pair

Quick tell: laue is a adjective, Laut is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“laue” is an adjective and “Laut” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,872
“laue” frequency rank
#505
“Laut” frequency rank
39377
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laue Laut
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lau ein Geräusch

Where the eye mixes laue and Laut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. laue (CVVV) and Laut (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
laue
4 ch
Laut

Visual trap between laue and Laut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laue is [ˈlaʊ̯ə] while Laut is [laʊ̯t]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “laue” becomes t in “Laut”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39377, 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]. Laut is at rank #505, tagged as anoun, pronounced [laʊ̯t].

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 39377, this pair ranks #1,538,485 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of laue vs Laut

Shared letters: alu. Private to "laue": e. Private to "Laut": t.

"laue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "Laut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laue ← alue · laeu · llaue · luae
  • Laut ← alut · latu · lautt · llaut · luat

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "laue" for "Laut" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "laue" is an adjective and "Laut" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "laue" or "Laut" show up more?
"Laut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #505 in our German list, against #38,872 for "laue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Laut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,538,485 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laue" and "Laut" 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 #1,538,485 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