Which to use
“Lees” is a noun and “lehr” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,048
- “Lees” frequency rank
- #14,120
- “lehr” frequency rank
- 63168
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Lees | lehr |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Lee | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lehren |
Where the eye mixes Lees and lehr
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Lees (CVVC) and lehr (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: Lees vs lehr
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lees is [leːs] while lehr is [leːɐ̯]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63168, 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]. lehr is at rank #14,120, tagged as averb, pronounced [leːɐ̯].
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 63168, this pair ranks #686,354 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Lees vs lehr
Shared letters: el. Private to "Lees": s. Private to "lehr": hr.
"Lees" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lehr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Lees" for "lehr" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Lees" or "lehr" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Lees" and "lehr" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Lees" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lehr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #686,354 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Lees" and "lehr" 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 #686,354 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.