LechvsLeicheWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Lech is a name, Leiche is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Lech” is a name and “Leiche” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,810
“Lech” frequency rank
#5,280
“Leiche” frequency rank
28090
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lech Leiche
Definition rechter Nebenfluss der oberen Donau in Österreich und Deutschland, welcher an der Rotwandspitze in Vorarlberg entspringt der tote Körper eines Menschen, eines Tieres, dabei vor allem eines Wirbeltieres

Where the eye mixes Lech and Leiche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Lech runs 4 letters (CVCC) against Leiche's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Lech
6 ch
Leiche

Visual trap between Lech and Leiche

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lech is [lɛç] while Leiche is [ˈlaɪ̯çə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28090, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lech is recorded at frequency rank #22,810, classified as aname, pronounced [lɛç]. Leiche is at rank #5,280, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯çə].

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 28090, this pair ranks #1,790,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lech vs Leiche

Shared letters: cehl. Private to "Lech": -. Private to "Leiche": i.

"Lech" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Leiche" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lech ← lceh · lecch · lechh · lehc · llech
  • Leiche ← eliche · lecihe · leicche · leiceh · leichhe · leihce · lieche · lleiche

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lech" for "Leiche" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lech" is a name and "Leiche" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Lech" or "Leiche"?
"Leiche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,280 in our German list, against #22,810 for "Lech". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lech" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Leiche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,790,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lech" and "Leiche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lech 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 #1,790,733 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