LedervsLehrerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Leder” and “Lehrer” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,864
“Leder” frequency rank
#1,038
“Lehrer” frequency rank
6902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Leder Lehrer
Definition Material aus gegerbter Tierhaut Person, die Wissen (beziehungsweise Fertigkeiten, Verhaltensweisen, Werte und so weiter) an Lernende (Schüler, Studenten) vermittelt, häufig im Rahmen des Unterrichts an einer Bildungseinrichtung

Where the eye mixes Leder and Lehrer

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

5 ch
Leder
6 ch
Lehrer

Why the eye confuses Leder with Lehrer

A purely visual mix-up. Leder ([ˈleːdɐ]) and Lehrer ([ˈleːʁɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Leder is recorded at frequency rank #5,864, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːdɐ]. Lehrer is at rank #1,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːʁɐ].

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 6902, this pair ranks #1,990,074 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Leder vs Lehrer

Shared letters: elr. Private to "Leder": d. Private to "Lehrer": h.

"Leder" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Lehrer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lederldeer · ledder · lederr · ledre · leedr · lleder
  • Lehrerelhrer · leherr · lehhrer · lehrerr · lehrre · lehrrer · lerher · lherer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Leder" for "Lehrer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːdɐ] versus [ˈleːʁɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Leder" or "Lehrer"?
"Lehrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,038 in our German list, against #5,864 for "Leder". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Leder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lehrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,990,074 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Leder" and "Lehrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Leder 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 #1,990,074 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