legstvslightWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: legst is a verb, light is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“legst” is a verb and “light” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,645
“legst” frequency rank
#6,950
“light” frequency rank
24595
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature legst light
Definition 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs legen geringere Mengen eines ungesunden Stoffs enthaltend als sonst üblich

Where the eye mixes legst and light

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

5 ch
legst
5 ch
light

Why the eye confuses legst with light

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: legst is [leːkst] while light 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24595, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

legst is recorded at frequency rank #17,645, classified as averb, pronounced [leːkst]. light is at rank #6,950, tagged as anadj, 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 24595, this pair ranks #1,845,392 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of legst vs light

Shared letters: glt. Private to "legst": es. Private to "light": hi.

"legst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "light" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • legstelgst · leggst · legsst · legstt · legts · lesgt · lgest · llegst
  • lightilght · lgiht · ligght · lighht · lightt · ligth · lihgt · llight

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "legst" and "light" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "legst" is a verb and "light" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "legst" vs "light" - which ranks higher?
"light" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,950 in our German list, against #17,645 for "legst". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "legst" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "light" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,845,392 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "legst" and "light" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs legst". 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 #1,845,392 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