legenvsLöwenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: legen is a verb, Löwen is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“legen” is a verb and “Löwen” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,262
“legen” frequency rank
#3,829
“Löwen” frequency rank
5091
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature legen Löwen
Definition etwas in horizontale Lage bringen oder in horizontaler Lage in eine Position bringen Stadt in Belgien

Where the eye mixes legen and Löwen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
legen
5 ch
Löwen

Look-alike desk: legen vs Löwen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: legen is [ˈleːɡn̩] while Löwen is [ˈløːvn̩]. 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 (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

legen is recorded at frequency rank #1,262, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːɡn̩]. Löwen is at rank #3,829, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈløːvn̩].

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 5091, this pair ranks #1,995,823 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of legen vs Löwen

Shared letters: eln. Private to "legen": g. Private to "Löwen": .

"legen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Löwen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • legenelgen · leegn · legenn · leggen · legne · lgeen · llegen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "legen" and "Löwen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "legen" is a verb and "Löwen" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "legen" vs "Löwen" - which ranks higher?
"legen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,262 in our German list, against #3,829 for "Löwen". 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 "legen" and "Löwen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "legen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Löwen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,995,823 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "legen" and "Löwen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Loses vs Löwen". 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 #1,995,823 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