lauevslawsConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#38,872
“laue” frequency rank
#38,251
“laws” frequency rank
77123
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laue laws
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lau Plural des Substantivs law

Letter map: laue vs laws

Shared letters muted; letters that set laue and laws apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. laue (CVVV) and laws (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
laue
4 ch
laws

Role in the sentence - laue and laws

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: laue is anadjective and lawsanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77123, 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]. laws is at rank #38,251, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 77123, this pair ranks #267,927 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laue vs laws

Shared letters: al. Private to "laue": eu. Private to "laws": sw.

"laue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "laws" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laue ← alue · laeu · llaue · luae
  • laws ← alws · lasw · lawss · lawws · llaws · lwas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laue" and "laws" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "laue" is an adjective and "laws" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "laue" vs "laws" - which ranks higher?
"laws" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,251 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.

Useful next steps

Pair "laue" vs "laws" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "laws" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #267,927 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laue" and "laws" 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 #267,927 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