Which to use
“leer” and “leerem” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,116
- “leer” frequency rank
- #44,043
- “leerem” frequency rank
- 46159
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leer | leerem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (fast) ohne (physischen) Inhalt | Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs leer |
Where the eye mixes leer and leerem
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leer runs 4 letters (CVVC) against leerem's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses leer with leerem
A purely visual mix-up. leer ([leːɐ̯]) and leerem ([ˈleːʁəm]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “leer” sits inside “leerem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46159, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leer is recorded at frequency rank #2,116, classified as anadj, pronounced [leːɐ̯]. leerem is at rank #44,043, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈleːʁəm].
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 46159, this pair ranks #1,328,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leer vs leerem
Shared letters: elr. Private to "leer": -. Private to "leerem": m.
"leer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "leerem" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "leer" and "leerem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "leer" vs "leerem" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "leer" and "leerem" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "leer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leerem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,328,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leer" and "leerem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leerem vs leeres". 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 #1,328,579 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.