leerevsLeuteConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#4,286
“leere” frequency rank
#215
“Leute” frequency rank
4501
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leere Leute
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs leer eine Gruppe von Personen, Menschen meist unbestimmter, aber auch bestimmter Anzahl

Where the eye mixes leere and Leute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
leere
5 ch
Leute

Why the eye confuses leere with Leute

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leere is [ˈleːʁə] while Leute is [ˈlɔɪ̯tə]. 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 4501, 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]. Leute is at rank #215, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔɪ̯tə].

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 4501, this pair ranks #1,997,539 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of leere vs Leute

Shared letters: el. Private to "leere": r. Private to "Leute": tu.

"leere" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Leute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leereelere · leeer · leerre · leree · lleere
  • Leuteelute · letue · leuet · leutte · lleute · luete

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "leere" and "Leute" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leere" is an adjective and "Leute" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "leere" vs "Leute" - which ranks higher?
"Leute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #215 in our German list, against #4,286 for "leere". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "leere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Leute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,997,539 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leere" and "Leute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leere vs Lees". 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 #1,997,539 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