leafvsLehmConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#34,777
“leaf” frequency rank
#19,633
“Lehm” frequency rank
54410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leaf Lehm
Definition Blumenblatt, Blatt quarzhaltiger, kalkfreier Ton, der reich an Eisenverbindungen ist; gutes Ausgangsmaterial für Keramik und Ziegel

Where the eye mixes leaf and Lehm

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
leaf
4 ch
Lehm

Look-alike desk: leaf vs Lehm

A purely visual mix-up. leaf ([liːf]) and Lehm ([leːm]) 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 54410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leaf is recorded at frequency rank #34,777, classified as anoun, pronounced [liːf]. Lehm is at rank #19,633, tagged as anoun, pronounced [leːm].

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 54410, this pair ranks #1,020,017 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leaf vs Lehm

Shared letters: el. Private to "leaf": af. Private to "Lehm": hm.

"leaf" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Lehm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leafelaf · laef · leaff · lefa · lleaf
  • Lehmelhm · lehhm · lehmm · lemh · lhem · llehm

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "leaf" for "Lehm" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([liːf] versus [leːm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "leaf" vs "Lehm" - which ranks higher?
"Lehm" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,633 in our German list, against #34,777 for "leaf". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "leaf" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lehm" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,020,017 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leaf" and "Lehm" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leaf vs Lees". 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 #1,020,017 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