leckervslenkenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lecker is a adjective, lenken is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lecker” is an adjective and “lenken” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,828
“lecker” frequency rank
#8,098
“lenken” frequency rank
11926
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lecker lenken
Definition gut schmeckend an einen bestimmten Ort, an ein Ziel führen

Where the eye mixes lecker and lenken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lecker and lenken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
lecker
6 ch
lenken

Look-alike desk: lecker vs lenken

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lecker is [ˈlɛkɐ] while lenken is [ˈlɛŋkn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lecker is recorded at frequency rank #3,828, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlɛkɐ]. lenken is at rank #8,098, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlɛŋkn̩].

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 11926, this pair ranks #1,967,183 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lecker vs lenken

Shared letters: ekl. Private to "lecker": cr. Private to "lenken": n.

"lecker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "lenken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lecker ← elcker · lceker · leccker · lecekr · leckerr · leckker · leckre · lekcer
  • lenken ← elnken · leknen · lenekn · lenkenn · lenkken · lenkne · lennken · llenken

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lecker" and "lenken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lecker" is an adjective and "lenken" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lecker" or "lenken"?
"lecker" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,828 in our German list, against #8,098 for "lenken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "lecker" and "lenken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lecker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lenken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,967,183 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lecker" and "lenken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lenken vs lenzen". 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 #1,967,183 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