Which to use
“leak” and “lieg” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,874
- “leak” frequency rank
- #34,786
- “lieg” frequency rank
- 73660
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leak | lieg |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs leaken | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs liegen |
Same sound, different letters: leak vs lieg
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters. leak and lieg follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Ear matches; page differs - leak and lieg
This is the hard kind. leak and lieg are pronounced identically ([liːk]) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73660, 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]. lieg is at rank #34,786, tagged as averb, pronounced [liːk].
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 73660, this pair ranks #354,305 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of leak vs lieg
Shared letters: el. Private to "leak": ak. Private to "lieg": gi.
"leak" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lieg" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "leak" and "lieg" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "leak" vs "lieg" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "leak" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lieg" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #354,305 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leak" and "lieg" 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 #354,305 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.