Which to use
“leerer” is an adjective and “Lehrer” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,320
- “leerer” frequency rank
- #1,038
- “Lehrer” frequency rank
- 21358
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leerer | Lehrer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs leer | Person, die Wissen (beziehungsweise Fertigkeiten, Verhaltensweisen, Werte und so weiter) an Lernende (Schüler, Studenten) vermittelt, häufig im Rahmen des Unterrichts an einer Bildungseinrichtung |
Same sound, different letters: leerer vs Lehrer
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - leerer and Lehrer
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: leerer and Lehrer carry the same recorded pronunciation, [ˈleːʁɐ]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - e in “leerer” becomes h in “Lehrer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21358, 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]. Lehrer is at rank #1,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːʁɐ].
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 21358, this pair ranks #1,887,220 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of leerer vs Lehrer
Shared letters: elr. Private to "leerer": -. Private to "Lehrer": h.
"leerer" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "Lehrer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leerer" for "Lehrer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "leerer" vs "Lehrer" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "leerer" / "Lehrer". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "leerer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Lehrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,887,220 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leerer" and "Lehrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leerer vs leger". 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 #1,887,220 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.