legtevsLesbeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#1,977
“legte” frequency rank
#39,511
“Lesbe” frequency rank
41488
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature legte Lesbe
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs legen Frau, die homosexuelle Neigungen besitzt, lesbisch ist

Where the eye mixes legte and Lesbe

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

5 ch
legte
5 ch
Lesbe

Why the eye confuses legte with Lesbe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: legte is [ˈleːktə] while Lesbe is [ˈlɛsbə]. 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 41488, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

legte is recorded at frequency rank #1,977, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːktə]. Lesbe is at rank #39,511, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛsbə].

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 41488, this pair ranks #1,477,895 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of legte vs Lesbe

Shared letters: el. Private to "legte": gt. Private to "Lesbe": bs.

"legte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Lesbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • legteelgte · leget · leggte · legtte · letge · lgete · llegte
  • Lesbeelsbe · lebse · lesbbe · leseb · lessbe · llesbe · lsebe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "legte" for "Lesbe" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "legte" is a verb and "Lesbe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "legte" or "Lesbe"?
"legte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,977 in our German list, against #39,511 for "Lesbe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "legte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lesbe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,477,895 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "legte" and "Lesbe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Leibes vs Lesbe". 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 #1,477,895 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