LegatvsleihtWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#38,255
“Legat” frequency rank
#25,647
“leiht” frequency rank
63902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Legat leiht
Definition römischer Gesandter im Range eines Unterfeldherrn 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs leihen

Where the eye mixes Legat and leiht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Legat (CVCVC) and leiht (CVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Legat
5 ch
leiht

Why the eye confuses Legat with leiht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Legat is [leˈɡaːt] while leiht is [laɪ̯t]. 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 63902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Legat is recorded at frequency rank #38,255, classified as anoun, pronounced [leˈɡaːt]. leiht is at rank #25,647, tagged as averb, pronounced [laɪ̯t].

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 63902, this pair ranks #660,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Legat vs leiht

Shared letters: elt. Private to "Legat": ag. Private to "leiht": hi.

"Legat" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "leiht" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Legat ← elgat · leagt · legatt · leggat · legta · lgeat · llegat
  • leiht ← eliht · lehit · leihht · leihtt · leith · lieht · lleiht

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Legat" and "leiht" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Legat" is a noun and "leiht" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Legat" or "leiht"?
"leiht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,647 in our German list, against #38,255 for "Legat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Legat" and "leiht" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Legat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leiht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #660,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Legat" and "leiht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Legat 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 #660,326 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