Which to use
“leere” is an adjective and “lern” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,286
- “leere” frequency rank
- #11,472
- “lern” frequency rank
- 15758
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leere | lern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs leer | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lernen |
Where the eye mixes leere and lern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses leere with lern
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leere is [ˈleːʁə] while lern is [lɛʁn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15758, 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]. lern is at rank #11,472, tagged as averb, pronounced [lɛʁn].
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 15758, this pair ranks #1,941,378 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of leere vs lern
Shared letters: elr. Private to "leere": -. Private to "lern": n.
"leere" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "lern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leere" for "lern" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "leere" or "lern" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "leere" and "lern" 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 "lern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,941,378 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leere" and "lern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lasern vs lern". 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 #1,941,378 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.