Which to use
“laufen” and “lautet” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #765
- “laufen” frequency rank
- #2,346
- “lautet” frequency rank
- 3111
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laufen | lautet |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich auf den Beinen oder Gliedmaßen fortbewegen; regional verschieden hat dieses Verb die Grundbedeutung „schnell gehen“ oder mit „mäßiger Geschwindigkeit gehen“, aber es wird überregional für mäßiges (bzw. langsames) Gehen in dem Ausdruck „das Kind läuft schon“ benutzt und wird in entsprechendem Kontext auch in solchen Regionen als mäßiges Gehen verstanden, wo üblicherweise „gehen“ statt „laufen“ benutzt wird (z.B. „nach Hause laufen“, süddeutsch und österreichisch „nach Hause gehen“) | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lauten |
Where the eye mixes laufen and lautet
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses laufen with lautet
A purely visual mix-up. laufen ([ˈlaʊ̯fn̩]) and lautet ([ˈlaʊ̯tət]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3111, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laufen is recorded at frequency rank #765, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩]. lautet is at rank #2,346, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯tət].
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 3111, this pair ranks #2,000,923 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of laufen vs lautet
Shared letters: aelu. Private to "laufen": fn. Private to "lautet": t.
"laufen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "lautet" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laufen" and "lautet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "laufen" or "lautet"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "laufen" and "lautet" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laufen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lautet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,000,923 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laufen" and "lautet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laufen vs Läufern". 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 #2,000,923 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.