Which to use
“leeren” is a verb and “leisen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,198
- “leeren” frequency rank
- #20,323
- “leisen” frequency rank
- 25521
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leeren | leisen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | den Inhalt verbrauchen oder entfernen | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs leise |
Where the eye mixes leeren and leisen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leeren and leisen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: leeren vs leisen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leeren is [ˈleːʁən] while leisen is [ˈlaɪ̯zn̩]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25521, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leeren is recorded at frequency rank #5,198, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːʁən]. leisen is at rank #20,323, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯zn̩].
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 25521, this pair ranks #1,832,008 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of leeren vs leisen
Shared letters: eln. Private to "leeren": r. Private to "leisen": is.
"leeren" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "leisen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leeren" for "leisen" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "leeren" or "leisen" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "leeren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leisen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,832,008 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leeren" and "leisen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leisen vs lenzen". 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 #1,832,008 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.