lauevslauterConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#38,872
“laue” frequency rank
#2,982
“lauter” frequency rank
41854
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laue lauter
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lau einer ehrlichen, redlichen, aufrichtigen Verhaltensweise entsprechend

Where the eye mixes laue and lauter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. laue runs 4 letters (CVVV) against lauter's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
laue
6 ch
lauter

Visual trap between laue and lauter

A purely visual mix-up. laue ([ˈlaʊ̯ə]) and lauter ([ˈlaʊ̯tɐ]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41854, 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]. lauter is at rank #2,982, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯tɐ].

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 41854, this pair ranks #1,467,055 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of laue vs lauter

Shared letters: aelu. Private to "laue": -. Private to "lauter": rt.

"laue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "lauter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laue ← alue · laeu · llaue · luae
  • lauter ← aluter · latuer · lauetr · lauterr · lautre · lautter · llauter · luater

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laue" and "lauter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaʊ̯ə] versus [ˈlaʊ̯tɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "laue" vs "lauter" - which ranks higher?
"lauter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,982 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "laue" and "lauter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lauter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,467,055 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laue" and "lauter" 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 #1,467,055 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