LeesvslegstWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Lees is a noun, legst is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Lees” is a noun and “legst” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,048
“Lees” frequency rank
#17,645
“legst” frequency rank
66693
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lees legst
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Lee 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs legen

Where the eye mixes Lees and legst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Lees runs 4 letters (CVVC) against legst's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Lees
5 ch
legst

Why the eye confuses Lees with legst

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lees is [leːs] while legst is [leːkst]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66693, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lees is recorded at frequency rank #49,048, classified as anoun, pronounced [leːs]. legst is at rank #17,645, tagged as averb, pronounced [leːkst].

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 66693, this pair ranks #564,670 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Lees vs legst

Shared letters: els. Private to "Lees": -. Private to "legst": gt.

"Lees" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "legst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lees ← eles · leess · llees
  • legst ← elgst · leggst · legsst · legstt · legts · lesgt · lgest · llegst

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Lees" and "legst" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lees" is a noun and "legst" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Lees" or "legst"?
"legst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,645 in our German list, against #49,048 for "Lees". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lees" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "legst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #564,670 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lees" and "legst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs Loses". 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 #564,670 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