läuftvsLäuseWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#585
“läuft” frequency rank
#43,335
“Läuse” frequency rank
43920
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature läuft Läuse
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs laufen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Laus

Where the eye mixes läuft and Läuse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
läuft
5 ch
Läuse

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: läuft is [lɔɪ̯ft] while Läuse is [ˈlɔɪ̯zə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

läuft is recorded at frequency rank #585, classified as averb, pronounced [lɔɪ̯ft]. Läuse is at rank #43,335, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔɪ̯zə].

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 43920, this pair ranks #1,402,791 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of läuft vs Läuse

Shared letters: luä. Private to "läuft": ft. Private to "Läuse": es.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "läuft" and "Läuse" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "läuft" is a verb and "Läuse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "läuft" or "Läuse"?
"läuft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #585 in our German list, against #43,335 for "Läuse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list