Which to use
“lauen” is an adjective and “liken” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,647
- “lauen” frequency rank
- #39,513
- “liken” frequency rank
- 82160
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lauen | liken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs lau | etwas nach seinem Geschmack finden, Wohlgefallen an etwas finden; jemanden leiden mögen |
Where the eye mixes lauen and liken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lauen (CVVVC) and liken (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between lauen and liken
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lauen is [ˈlaʊ̯ən] while liken is [ˈlaɪ̯kn̩]. 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 82160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lauen is recorded at frequency rank #42,647, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯ən]. liken is at rank #39,513, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯kn̩].
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 82160, this pair ranks #162,265 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lauen vs liken
Shared letters: eln. Private to "lauen": au. Private to "liken": ik.
"lauen" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "liken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lauen" for "liken" ever safe?
Which is more common, "lauen" or "liken"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "lauen" and "liken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lauen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "liken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #162,265 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lauen" and "liken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lasern vs lauen". 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 #162,265 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.