Which to use
“leer” is an adjective and “Lees” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,116
- “leer” frequency rank
- #49,048
- “Lees” frequency rank
- 51164
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leer | Lees |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (fast) ohne (physischen) Inhalt | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Lee |
Where the eye mixes leer and Lees
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between leer and Lees
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leer is [leːɐ̯] while Lees is [leːs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “leer” becomes s in “Lees”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51164, 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]. Lees is at rank #49,048, tagged as anoun, pronounced [leːs].
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 51164, this pair ranks #1,146,023 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leer vs Lees
Shared letters: el. Private to "leer": r. Private to "Lees": s.
"leer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Lees" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leer" for "Lees" ever safe?
Which is more common, "leer" or "Lees"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "leer" and "Lees" 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 "Lees" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,146,023 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leer" and "Lees" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs Loses". 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 #1,146,023 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.