lauevslobeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#38,872
“laue” frequency rank
#32,155
“lobe” frequency rank
71027
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laue lobe
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lau 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs loben

Where the eye mixes laue and lobe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. laue (CVVV) and lobe (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
laue
4 ch
lobe

Visual trap between laue and lobe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laue is [ˈlaʊ̯ə] while lobe is [ˈloːbə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71027, 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]. lobe is at rank #32,155, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈloːbə].

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 71027, this pair ranks #428,827 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laue vs lobe

Shared letters: el. Private to "laue": au. Private to "lobe": bo.

"laue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "lobe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laue ← alue · laeu · llaue · luae
  • lobe ← lboe · llobe · lobbe · loeb · olbe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laue" and "lobe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "laue" is an adjective and "lobe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "laue" vs "lobe" - which ranks higher?
"lobe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,155 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

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 "lobe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #428,827 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laue" and "lobe" 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 #428,827 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