läuftvsLauraWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: läuft is a verb, Laura is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“läuft” is a verb and “Laura” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#585
“läuft” frequency rank
#4,532
“Laura” frequency rank
5117
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature läuft Laura
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs laufen weiblicher Vorname

Where the eye mixes läuft and Laura

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
läuft
5 ch
Laura

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: läuft is [lɔɪ̯ft] while Laura is [ˈlaʊ̯ʁa]. 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 (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5117, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

läuft is recorded at frequency rank #585, classified as averb, pronounced [lɔɪ̯ft]. Laura is at rank #4,532, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯ʁa].

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 5117, this pair ranks #1,995,743 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of läuft vs Laura

Shared letters: lu. Private to "läuft": ftä. Private to "Laura": ar.

"läuft" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "Laura" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lauraalura · larua · lauar · laurra · llaura · luara

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "läuft" and "Laura" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "läuft" is a verb and "Laura" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "läuft" or "Laura"?
"läuft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #585 in our German list, against #4,532 for "Laura". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "läuft" and "Laura". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "läuft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Laura" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,995,743 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "läuft" and "Laura" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Laura vs Lepra". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list