LechvslexWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#22,810
“Lech” frequency rank
#12,961
“lex” frequency rank
35771
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lech lex
Definition rechter Nebenfluss der oberen Donau in Österreich und Deutschland, welcher an der Rotwandspitze in Vorarlberg entspringt das Recht, das Gesetz, die Gesetzessammlung

Letter map: Lech vs lex

Shared letters muted; letters that set Lech and lex apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
Lech
3 ch
lex

Part-of-speech tell for Lech / lex

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Lech is aname and lexanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35771, 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]. 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 35771, this pair ranks #1,631,931 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lech vs lex

Shared letters: el. Private to "Lech": ch. Private to "lex": x.

"Lech" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lex" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lechlceh · lecch · lechh · lehc · llech

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Lech" and "lex" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lech" is a name and "lex" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Lech" 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 #22,810 for "Lech". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "Lech" vs "lex" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lech" 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 #1,631,931 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lech" and "lex" 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 #1,631,931 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