LackevsleckteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Lacke is a noun, leckte is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Lacke” is a noun and “leckte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,413
“Lacke” frequency rank
#39,504
“leckte” frequency rank
84917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lacke leckte
Definition kleine Flüssigkeitsansammlung; Ansammlung von Regenwasser, Pfütze, kleines Gewässer 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs lecken

Where the eye mixes Lacke and leckte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Lacke runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against leckte's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Lacke
6 ch
leckte

Visual trap between Lacke and leckte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lacke is [ˈlakə] while leckte is [ˈlɛktə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lacke is recorded at frequency rank #45,413, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlakə]. leckte is at rank #39,504, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlɛktə].

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 84917, this pair ranks #116,217 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Lacke vs leckte

Shared letters: cekl. Private to "Lacke": a. Private to "leckte": t.

"Lacke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "leckte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lacke ← alcke · laccke · lacek · lackke · lakce · lcake · llacke
  • leckte ← elckte · lcekte · lecckte · lecket · leckkte · lecktte · lectke · lekcte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Lacke" and "leckte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lacke" is a noun and "leckte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Lacke" or "leckte"?
"leckte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,504 in our German list, against #45,413 for "Lacke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lacke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leckte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #116,217 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lacke" and "leckte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lacke vs lame". 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 #116,217 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