Deutsch homophones
leer/lehr
"leer" is an adjective; "lehr" is a verb - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #38 of 483 German groups.
Data vintage
Grammar picks the spelling
Same sound, different grammar: "leer" arrives as an adjective, while "lehr" is a verb. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "le" then splits - "leer" (4 letters) vs "lehr" (4).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across leer, lehr: elr. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
leer
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory elr · no private letters vs siblings
lehr
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory ehlr · private h
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "leer" when you mean: (fast) ohne (physischen) Inhalt
- Write "lehr" when you mean: 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lehren
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.