lau

[laʊ̯]

/[laʊ̯]/ adj

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

The verdict

“lau” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #16,210) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#16,210
frequency rank, German
2,640
“L” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - von einer mittleren Temperatur zwischen kühl und warm

Corpus desk

Index DE-lau · lau · German

lau · rank #16,210 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #16,210
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,640
  • PHOTO-FINISH langsame

Nearest frequency peer: langsame (-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 „lau“

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

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „lau“ 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).

lau vs le
33% similar
lau vs Li
0% similar
lau vs LG
0% similar

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

Key facts for lau
PropertyValue
Headwordlau
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[laʊ̯]
Letters3
Frequency rank#16,210
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „lau“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).lauliegt auf dieser Marke:

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

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „langsame“ (#16,209), „lautstark“ (#16,211), „Kundenservice“ (#16,208). Unter 2,640 „L“-Lemmata liegt „lau“ bei #16,210. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for lau is neighbouring look-alikes ("le", "Li", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced [laʊ̯]. Frequency #16,210 among 2,640 “L” headwords. Gloss: "von einer mittleren Temperatur zwischen kühl und warm".

lau doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "le", "Li", "LG", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is lau, spelled L-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    von einer mittleren Temperatur zwischen kühl und warm

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Der Boiler ist kaputt, das Wasser wird heute nur lau.
  2. „Durch das geöffnete Fenster kam laue Sommerluft herein.“

Synonyms

lauwarmmildtemperiert

Antonyms

heißkalt

This word in other languages

lukewarm(English)tibio(Español)tiède(Français)tépido(Português)

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 "lau"?
"lau" is spelled L-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is [laʊ̯].
What does "lau" mean?
As an adjective, "lau" means: von einer mittleren Temperatur zwischen kühl und warm
What words are commonly confused with "lau"?
"lau" 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 "lau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lau" is [laʊ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "lau" come from?
"lau" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "lau", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

mbH#16,218MdB#16,219ick#16,183omg#16,240

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list