LautvslistWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#505
“Laut” frequency rank
#9,059
“list” frequency rank
9564
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Laut list
Definition ein Geräusch 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs listen

Where the eye mixes Laut and list

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

4 ch
Laut
4 ch
list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Laut is [laʊ̯t] while list is [lɪst]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9564, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Laut is recorded at frequency rank #505, classified as anoun, pronounced [laʊ̯t]. list is at rank #9,059, tagged as averb, pronounced [lɪst].

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 9564, this pair ranks #1,979,357 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Laut vs list

Shared letters: lt. Private to "Laut": au. Private to "list": is.

"Laut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "list" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lautalut · latu · lautt · llaut · luat
  • listilst · lisst · listt · lits · llist · lsit

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Laut" and "list" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Laut" is a noun and "list" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Laut" or "list"?
"Laut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #505 in our German list, against #9,059 for "list". 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