leerevsLehneWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: leere is a adjective, Lehne is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“leere” is an adjective and “Lehne” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,286
“leere” frequency rank
#14,620
“Lehne” frequency rank
18906
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leere Lehne
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs leer Sitzmöbelteil, an den man sich anlehnen oder auf den man sich stützen kann

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set leere and Lehne apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
leere
5 ch
Lehne

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

leere and Lehne form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18906, 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]. Lehne is at rank #14,620, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːnə].

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 18906, this pair ranks #1,913,670 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

leere#4,286
Lehne#14,620

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leere" and "Lehne" be used interchangeably?
No, "leere" and "Lehne" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering leere vs Lehne

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “leere”; for a noun, it's “Lehne”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “leere” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list