läuftvsLauteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#585
“läuft” frequency rank
#6,948
“Laute” frequency rank
7533
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature läuft Laute
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs laufen Saiteninstrument mit birnenförmigem Korpus und angesetztem Hals

Where the eye mixes läuft and Laute

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

5 ch
läuft
5 ch
Laute

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: läuft is [lɔɪ̯ft] while Laute is [ˈlaʊ̯tə]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

läuft is recorded at frequency rank #585, classified as averb, pronounced [lɔɪ̯ft]. Laute is at rank #6,948, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯tə].

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 7533, this pair ranks #1,987,816 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of läuft vs Laute

Shared letters: ltu. Private to "läuft": . Private to "Laute": ae.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lautealute · latue · lauet · llaute · luate

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "läuft" and "Laute" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "läuft" is a verb and "Laute" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "läuft" or "Laute"?
"läuft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #585 in our German list, against #6,948 for "Laute". 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