leerervsleeresWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“leerer” and “leeres” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,320
“leerer” frequency rank
#24,026
“leeres” frequency rank
44346
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leerer leeres
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs leer Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs leer

Where the eye mixes leerer and leeres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
leerer
6 ch
leeres

Why the eye confuses leerer with leeres

A purely visual mix-up. leerer ([ˈleːʁɐ]) and leeres ([ˈleːʁəs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - r in “leerer” becomes s in “leeres”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leerer is recorded at frequency rank #20,320, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈleːʁɐ]. leeres is at rank #24,026, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈleːʁəs].

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 44346, this pair ranks #1,389,183 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leerer vs leeres

Shared letters: elr. Private to "leerer": -. Private to "leeres": s.

"leerer" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "leeres" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leererelerer · leeerr · leererr · leerrer · lereer · lerer · lleerer
  • leereseleres · leeers · leeress · leerres · leerse · lerees · leres · lleeres

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leerer" and "leeres" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːʁɐ] versus [ˈleːʁəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "leerer" or "leeres"?
"leerer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,320 in our German list, against #24,026 for "leeres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "leerer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leeres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,389,183 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leerer" and "leeres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leeres 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 #1,389,183 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