LehmvsLenzWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Lehm” and “Lenz” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,633
“Lehm” frequency rank
#11,920
“Lenz” frequency rank
31553
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lehm Lenz
Definition quarzhaltiger, kalkfreier Ton, der reich an Eisenverbindungen ist; gutes Ausgangsmaterial für Keramik und Ziegel die erste Jahreszeit, Frühling

Where the eye mixes Lehm and Lenz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Lehm
4 ch
Lenz

Visual trap between Lehm and Lenz

A purely visual mix-up. Lehm ([leːm]) and Lenz ([lɛnt͡s]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31553, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lehm is recorded at frequency rank #19,633, classified as anoun, pronounced [leːm]. Lenz is at rank #11,920, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lɛnt͡s].

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 31553, this pair ranks #1,725,783 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lehm vs Lenz

Shared letters: el. Private to "Lehm": hm. Private to "Lenz": nz.

"Lehm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Lenz" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lehmelhm · lehhm · lehmm · lemh · lhem · llehm
  • Lenzelnz · lennz · lenzz · lezn · llenz · lnez

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Lehm" and "Lenz" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([leːm] versus [lɛnt͡s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Lehm" vs "Lenz" - which ranks higher?
"Lenz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,920 in our German list, against #19,633 for "Lehm". 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 "Lehm" and "Lenz" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lehm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lenz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,725,783 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lehm" and "Lenz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lähmt vs Lehm". 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 #1,725,783 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