ledigvslegWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#27,393
“ledig” frequency rank
#7,358
“leg” frequency rank
34751
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ledig leg
Definition noch nie verheiratet 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs legen

Where the eye mixes ledig and leg

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ledig
3 ch
leg

Why the eye confuses ledig with leg

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ledig is [ˈleːdɪç] while leg is [leːk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34751, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ledig is recorded at frequency rank #27,393, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈleːdɪç]. leg is at rank #7,358, tagged as averb, pronounced [leːk].

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 34751, this pair ranks #1,656,150 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ledig vs leg

Shared letters: egl. Private to "ledig": di. Private to "leg": -.

"ledig" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "leg" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ledigeldig · ldeig · leddig · ledgi · ledigg · leidg · lledig

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ledig" and "leg" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ledig" is an adjective and "leg" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ledig" or "leg"?
"leg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,358 in our German list, against #27,393 for "ledig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ledig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leg" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,656,150 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ledig" and "leg" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ledig vs leih". 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 #1,656,150 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