legendvsLesensTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#18,968
“legend” frequency rank
#46,111
“Lesens” frequency rank
65079
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature legend Lesens
Definition Partizip Präsens des Verbs legen Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Lesen

Where the eye mixes legend and Lesens

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. legend and Lesens follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
legend
6 ch
Lesens

Visual trap between legend and Lesens

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: legend is [ˈleːɡn̩t] while Lesens is [ˈleːzn̩s]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

legend is recorded at frequency rank #18,968, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːɡn̩t]. Lesens is at rank #46,111, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːzn̩s].

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 65079, this pair ranks #619,257 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of legend vs Lesens

Shared letters: eln. Private to "legend": dg. Private to "Lesens": s.

"legend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "Lesens" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • legend ← elgend · leegnd · legedn · legendd · legennd · leggend · legned · lgeend
  • Lesens ← elsens · leesns · lesenns · lesenss · lesesn · lesnes · lessens · llesens

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "legend" for "Lesens" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "legend" is a verb and "Lesens" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "legend" or "Lesens" show up more?
"legend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,968 in our German list, against #46,111 for "Lesens". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "legend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lesens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #619,257 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "legend" and "Lesens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lesens 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 #619,257 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