lecktevsLeuteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: leckte is a verb, Leute is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#39,504
“leckte” frequency rank
#215
“Leute” frequency rank
39719
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leckte Leute
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs lecken eine Gruppe von Personen, Menschen meist unbestimmter, aber auch bestimmter Anzahl

Where the eye mixes leckte and Leute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
leckte
5 ch
Leute

Why the eye confuses leckte with Leute

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leckte is [ˈlɛktə] while Leute is [ˈlɔɪ̯tə]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39719, 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]. Leute is at rank #215, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔɪ̯tə].

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 39719, this pair ranks #1,528,877 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of leckte vs Leute

Shared letters: elt. Private to "leckte": ck. Private to "Leute": u.

"leckte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "Leute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leckteelckte · lcekte · lecckte · lecket · leckkte · lecktte · lectke · lekcte
  • Leuteelute · letue · leuet · leutte · lleute · luete

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leckte" and "Leute" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leckte" is a verb and "Leute" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "leckte" vs "Leute" - which ranks higher?
"Leute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #215 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "leckte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Leute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,528,877 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leckte" and "Leute" 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 #1,528,877 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