LehenvslehntWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#20,321
“Lehen” frequency rank
#6,557
“lehnt” frequency rank
26878
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lehen lehnt
Definition etwas Geliehenes (auch feminin) 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lehnen

Where the eye mixes Lehen and lehnt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Lehen
5 ch
lehnt

Look-alike desk: Lehen vs lehnt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lehen is [ˈleːən] while lehnt is [leːnt]. 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 26878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lehen is recorded at frequency rank #20,321, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːən]. lehnt is at rank #6,557, tagged as averb, pronounced [leːnt].

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 26878, this pair ranks #1,810,934 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lehen vs lehnt

Shared letters: ehln. Private to "Lehen": -. Private to "lehnt": t.

"Lehen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lehnt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lehenelhen · leehn · lehhen · lheen · llehen
  • lehntelhnt · lehhnt · lehnnt · lehntt · lehtn · lenht · lhent · llehnt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Lehen" and "lehnt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lehen" is a noun and "lehnt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Lehen" or "lehnt" show up more?
"lehnt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,557 in our German list, against #20,321 for "Lehen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lehnt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,810,934 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lehen" and "lehnt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lehen vs lenzen". 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 #1,810,934 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