leerevslegerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,286
“leere” frequency rank
#46,108
“leger” frequency rank
50394
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leere leger
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs leer leicht, bequem (meist in Zusammenhang mit Kleidung)

Where the eye mixes leere and leger

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

5 ch
leere
5 ch
leger

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. leere ([ˈleːʁə]) and leger ([leˈʒɛːɐ̯]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50394, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leere is recorded at frequency rank #4,286, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈleːʁə]. leger is at rank #46,108, tagged as anadj, pronounced [leˈʒɛːɐ̯].

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 50394, this pair ranks #1,175,309 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leere vs leger

Shared letters: elr. Private to "leere": -. Private to "leger": g.

"leere" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "leger" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leereelere · leeer · leerre · leree · lleere
  • legerelger · leegr · legerr · legger · legre · lgeer · lleger

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leere" and "leger" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːʁə] versus [leˈʒɛːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "leere" or "leger"?
"leere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,286 in our German list, against #46,108 for "leger". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "leere" and "leger". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "leere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,175,309 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leere" and "leger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs leger". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list