lecktevsleichteTell them apart

Quick tell: leckte is a verb, leichte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#39,504
“leckte” frequency rank
#3,197
“leichte” frequency rank
42701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leckte leichte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs lecken Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs leicht

Where the eye mixes leckte and leichte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
leckte
7 ch
leichte

Visual trap between leckte and leichte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leckte is [ˈlɛktə] while leichte is [ˈlaɪ̯çtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leckte is recorded at frequency rank #39,504, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlɛktə]. leichte is at rank #3,197, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯çtə].

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 42701, this pair ranks #1,441,268 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leckte vs leichte

Shared letters: celt. Private to "leckte": k. Private to "leichte": hi.

"leckte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "leichte" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leckteelckte · lcekte · lecckte · lecket · leckkte · lecktte · lectke · lekcte
  • leichteelichte · lecihte · leicchte · leichet · leichhte · leichtte · leicthe · leihcte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leckte" and "leichte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leckte" is a verb and "leichte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "leckte" or "leichte" show up more?
"leichte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,197 in our German list, against #39,504 for "leckte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "leckte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leichte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,441,268 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leckte" and "leichte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lacke vs leckte". 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 #1,441,268 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