lauevsLautesWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#38,872
“laue” frequency rank
#17,352
“Lautes” frequency rank
56224
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laue Lautes
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lau Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Laut

Where the eye mixes laue and Lautes

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

4 ch
laue
6 ch
Lautes

Look-alike desk: laue vs Lautes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laue is [ˈlaʊ̯ə] while Lautes is [ˈlaʊ̯təs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56224, 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]. Lautes is at rank #17,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯təs].

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 56224, this pair ranks #948,575 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of laue vs Lautes

Shared letters: aelu. Private to "laue": -. Private to "Lautes": st.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laue ← alue · laeu · llaue · luae
  • Lautes ← alutes · latues · lauets · lautess · lautse · lauttes · llautes · luates

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laue" and "Lautes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "laue" is an adjective and "Lautes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "laue" vs "Lautes" - which ranks higher?
"Lautes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,352 in our German list, against #38,872 for "laue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lautes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #948,575 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laue" and "Lautes" 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 #948,575 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