Which to use
“laws” is a noun and “lies” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,251
- “laws” frequency rank
- #5,620
- “lies” frequency rank
- 43871
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laws | lies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plural des Substantivs law | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lesen |
Letter map: laws vs lies
Shared letters muted; letters that set laws and lies apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: laws vs lies
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: laws is anoun and liesaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laws is recorded at frequency rank #38,251, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. lies is at rank #5,620, tagged as averb, pronounced [liːs].
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 43871, this pair ranks #1,404,296 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laws vs lies
Shared letters: ls. Private to "laws": aw. Private to "lies": ei.
"laws" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lies" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laws" and "lies" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "laws" or "lies" show up more?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "laws" and "lies".
- Full dictionary entry for "laws" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,404,296 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laws" and "lies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laws vs puzzles". 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 #1,404,296 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.