Which to use
“lake” is a noun and “lese” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,319
- “lake” frequency rank
- #2,907
- “lese” frequency rank
- 13226
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lake | lese |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Stillgewässer, das vollständig von einer Landfläche umgeben ist; See | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lesen |
Where the eye mixes lake and lese
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lake and lese follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses lake with lese
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lake is [leɪk] while lese is [ˈleːzə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13226, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lake is recorded at frequency rank #10,319, classified as anoun, pronounced [leɪk]. lese is at rank #2,907, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈleːzə].
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 13226, this pair ranks #1,959,306 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lake vs lese
Shared letters: el. Private to "lake": ak. Private to "lese": s.
"lake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lese" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lake" for "lese" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lake" vs "lese" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "lake" and "lese" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lese" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,959,306 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lake" and "lese" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lake 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 #1,959,306 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.