leakvslexTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#38,874
“leak” frequency rank
#12,961
“lex” frequency rank
51835
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leak lex
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs leaken das Recht, das Gesetz, die Gesetzessammlung

Letter map: leak vs lex

Shared letters muted; letters that set leak and lex apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. leak runs 4 letters (CVVC) against lex's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
leak
3 ch
lex

Grammar separator: leak vs lex

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: leak is averb and lexanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leak is recorded at frequency rank #38,874, classified as averb, pronounced [liːk]. lex is at rank #12,961, tagged as anoun.

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 51835, this pair ranks #1,120,160 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leak vs lex

Shared letters: el. Private to "leak": ak. Private to "lex": x.

"leak" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "lex" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leak ← elak · leakk · leka · lleak

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "leak" and "lex" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leak" is a verb and "lex" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "leak" or "lex" show up more?
"lex" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,961 in our German list, against #38,874 for "leak". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "leak" and "lex".

  • Full dictionary entry for "leak" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,120,160 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leak" and "lex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leak 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 #1,120,160 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