LautvsLuWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Laut is a noun, Lu is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#505
“Laut” frequency rank
#13,892
“Lu” frequency rank
14397
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Laut Lu
Definition ein Geräusch Lutetium

Letter map: Laut vs Lu

Shared letters muted; letters that set Laut and Lu apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
Laut
2 ch
Lu

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Laut is anoun and Luanabbrev. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Laut is recorded at frequency rank #505, classified as anoun, pronounced [laʊ̯t]. Lu is at rank #13,892, tagged as anabbrev.

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 14397, this pair ranks #1,951,482 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Laut vs Lu

Shared letters: lu. Private to "Laut": at. Private to "Lu": -.

"Laut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Lu" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lautalut · latu · lautt · llaut · luat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Laut" and "Lu" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Laut" is a noun and "Lu" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Laut" or "Lu"?
"Laut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #505 in our German list, against #13,892 for "Lu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Laut" and "Lu". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Laut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,951,482 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Laut" and "Lu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lai vs Lu". 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