laxvsLuxWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lax is a adjective, Lux is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lax” is an adjective and “Lux” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,323
“lax” frequency rank
#14,354
“Lux” frequency rank
57677
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lax Lux
Definition nicht streng (in der Auslegung von Regeln) Einheit der Beleuchtungsstärke

Where the eye mixes lax and Lux

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lax and Lux follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
lax
3 ch
Lux

Visual trap between lax and Lux

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lax is [laks] while Lux is [lʊks]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “lax” becomes u in “Lux”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lax is recorded at frequency rank #43,323, classified as anadj, pronounced [laks]. Lux is at rank #14,354, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lʊks].

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 57677, this pair ranks #891,984 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lax vs Lux

Shared letters: lx. Private to "lax": a. Private to "Lux": u.

"lax" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Lux" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lax" for "Lux" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lax" is an adjective and "Lux" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "lax" or "Lux" show up more?
"Lux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,354 in our German list, against #43,323 for "lax". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "lax" and "Lux" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lax" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #891,984 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lax" and "Lux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs lax". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #891,984 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