Which to use
“Lees” is a noun and “lese” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,048
- “Lees” frequency rank
- #2,907
- “lese” frequency rank
- 51955
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Lees | lese |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Lee | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lesen |
Where the eye mixes Lees and lese
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Lees vs lese
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lees is [leːs] while lese is [ˈleːzə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (es ↔ se) - a transposition the eye reads straight past, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51955, 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]. lese is at rank #2,907, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈleːzə].
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 51955, this pair ranks #1,115,553 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Lees vs lese
Shared letters: els. Private to "Lees": -. Private to "lese": -.
"Lees" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lese" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Lees" and "lese" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "Lees" or "lese" show up more?
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 "lese" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,115,553 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Lees" and "lese" 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 #1,115,553 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.