LautvslittConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#505
“Laut” frequency rank
#10,321
“litt” frequency rank
10826
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Laut litt
Definition ein Geräusch 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum des Verbs leiden

Where the eye mixes Laut and litt

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

4 ch
Laut
4 ch
litt

Why the eye confuses Laut with litt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Laut is [laʊ̯t] while litt is [lɪt]. 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 10826, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Laut is recorded at frequency rank #505, classified as anoun, pronounced [laʊ̯t]. litt is at rank #10,321, tagged as averb, pronounced [lɪt].

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 10826, this pair ranks #1,973,122 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Laut vs litt

Shared letters: lt. Private to "Laut": au. Private to "litt": i.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lautalut · latu · lautt · llaut · luat
  • littiltt · lit · llitt · ltit

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Laut" and "litt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Laut" is a noun and "litt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Laut" vs "litt" - which ranks higher?
"Laut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #505 in our German list, against #10,321 for "litt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Laut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "litt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,973,122 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Laut" and "litt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lähmt vs Laut". 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 #1,973,122 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list