landenvslenkenTell them apart

Which to use

“landen” and “lenken” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,755
“landen” frequency rank
#8,098
“lenken” frequency rank
11853
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature landen lenken
Definition mit einem Wasserfahrzeug ans Land gelangen an einen bestimmten Ort, an ein Ziel führen

Where the eye mixes landen and lenken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. landen and lenken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
landen
6 ch
lenken

Look-alike desk: landen vs lenken

A purely visual mix-up. landen ([ˈlandn̩]) and lenken ([ˈlɛŋkn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11853, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

landen is recorded at frequency rank #3,755, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlandn̩]. lenken is at rank #8,098, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlɛŋkn̩].

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 11853, this pair ranks #1,967,547 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of landen vs lenken

Shared letters: eln. Private to "landen": ad. Private to "lenken": k.

"landen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "lenken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • landen ← alnden · ladnen · landden · landenn · landne · lanedn · lannden · llanden
  • lenken ← elnken · leknen · lenekn · lenkenn · lenkken · lenkne · lennken · llenken

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "landen" and "lenken" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlandn̩] versus [ˈlɛŋkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "landen" vs "lenken" - which ranks higher?
"landen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,755 in our German list, against #8,098 for "lenken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "landen" and "lenken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "landen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lenken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,967,547 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "landen" and "lenken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lenken vs lenzen". 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 #1,967,547 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