LeesvsluisConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#49,048
“Lees” frequency rank
#10,126
“luis” frequency rank
59174
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lees luis
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Lee Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs lui

Where the eye mixes Lees and luis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Lees
4 ch
luis

Visual trap between Lees and luis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lees is [leːs] while luis is [ˈluis]. 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 59174, 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]. luis is at rank #10,126, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈluis].

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 59174, this pair ranks #834,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Lees vs luis

Shared letters: ls. Private to "Lees": e. Private to "luis": iu.

"Lees" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "luis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Leeseles · leess · llees
  • luislius · lluis · luiss · lusi · ulis

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lees" for "luis" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lees" is a noun and "luis" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Lees" vs "luis" - which ranks higher?
"luis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,126 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.

Useful next steps

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 "luis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #834,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lees" and "luis" 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 #834,453 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