leerevsLepraTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#4,286
“leere” frequency rank
#48,303
“Lepra” frequency rank
52589
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leere Lepra
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs leer chronische bakterielle Infektionskrankheit der Haut, Schleimhäute und Nervenzellen

Where the eye mixes leere and Lepra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. leere (CVVCV) and Lepra (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
leere
5 ch
Lepra

Look-alike desk: leere vs Lepra

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leere is [ˈleːʁə] while Lepra is [ˈleːpʁa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52589, 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]. Lepra is at rank #48,303, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːpʁa].

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 52589, this pair ranks #1,090,912 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leere vs Lepra

Shared letters: elr. Private to "leere": -. Private to "Lepra": ap.

"leere" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Lepra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leere ← elere · leeer · leerre · leree · lleere
  • Lepra ← elpra · lepar · leppra · leprra · lerpa · llepra · lpera

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "leere" and "Lepra" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leere" is an adjective and "Lepra" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "leere" or "Lepra"?
"leere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,286 in our German list, against #48,303 for "Lepra". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "leere" and "Lepra" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "leere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lepra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,090,912 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leere" and "Lepra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lepra vs Lyra". 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 #1,090,912 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