LautvsludWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#505
“Laut” frequency rank
#10,689
“lud” frequency rank
11194
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Laut lud
Definition ein Geräusch 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs laden

Where the eye mixes Laut and lud

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

4 ch
Laut
3 ch
lud

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Laut is [laʊ̯t] while lud is [luːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Laut is recorded at frequency rank #505, classified as anoun, pronounced [laʊ̯t]. lud is at rank #10,689, tagged as averb, pronounced [luːt].

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 11194, this pair ranks #1,971,174 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Laut vs lud

Shared letters: lu. Private to "Laut": at. Private to "lud": d.

"Laut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "lud" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lautalut · latu · lautt · llaut · luat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Laut" and "lud" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Laut" is a noun and "lud" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Laut" or "lud"?
"Laut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #505 in our German list, against #10,689 for "lud". 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