Which to use
“Läufer” is a noun and “lautem” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,641
- “Läufer” frequency rank
- #36,474
- “lautem” frequency rank
- 44115
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Läufer | lautem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Person, die an einem Wettlauf teilnimmt, die sich laufend vorwärtsbewegt | Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs laut |
Where the eye mixes Läufer and lautem
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Läufer and lautem follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses Läufer with lautem
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Läufer is [ˈlɔɪ̯fɐ] while lautem is [ˈlaʊ̯təm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Läufer is recorded at frequency rank #7,641, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔɪ̯fɐ]. lautem is at rank #36,474, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯təm].
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 44115, this pair ranks #1,396,574 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Läufer vs lautem
Shared letters: elu. Private to "Läufer": frä. Private to "lautem": amt.
"Läufer" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "lautem" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lautem ← alutem · latuem · lauetm · lautemm · lautme · lauttem · llautem · luatem
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Läufer" and "lautem" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Läufer" or "lautem"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Läufer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lautem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,396,574 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Läufer" and "lautem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Läuse vs lautem". 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 #1,396,574 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.