Lai

[lɛː]

/[lɛː]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“Lai” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #47,552) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#47,552
frequency rank, German
2,640
“L” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - reines Instrumentalstück der mittelalterlichen französischen Musik

Corpus desk

Index DE-lai · Lai · German

Lai · rank #47,552 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #47,552
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,640
  • PHOTO-FINISH Ladendiebstahl

Nearest frequency peer: Ladendiebstahl (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „Lai“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „Lai“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Lai vs le
0% similar
Lai vs Li
67% similar
Lai vs LG
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Lai
PropertyValue
HeadwordLai
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[lɛː]
Letters3
Frequency rank#47,552
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „Lai“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.Lailiegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Ladendiebstahl“ (#47,551), „Kärtchen“ (#47,550), „Lasso“ (#47,554). Unter 2,640 „L“-Lemmata liegt „Lai“ bei #47,552. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for Lai is neighbouring look-alikes ("le", "Li", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced [lɛː]. Frequency #47,552 among 2,640 “L” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Lai, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "le", "Li", "LG", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is Lai, spelled L-A-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    reines Instrumentalstück der mittelalterlichen französischen Musik
  2. 2
    kurze gereimte altfranzösische Erzählung, die vorwiegend Stoffe aus der Welt des König Arthus behandelt
  3. 3
    altfranzösisches liedhaftes Gedicht, das auf unterschiedlich langen Abschnitten und nicht auf Strophen aufbaut

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Lai appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Marie de France ist die bedeutendste Verfasserin der Lais.
  2. Christine de Pisan verfasste Lais.

This word in other languages

lai(Français)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Lai"?
"Lai" is spelled L-A-I. The IPA pronunciation is [lɛː].
What does "Lai" mean?
As a noun, "Lai" means: reines Instrumentalstück der mittelalterlichen französischen Musik
What words are commonly confused with "Lai"?
"Lai" is commonly confused with "le", "Li", "LG". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Lai"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Lai" is [lɛː]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Lai" come from?
"Lai" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Lai", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

hum#47,488hel#47,474Phi#47,646sai#47,708

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list