Which to use
“lehn” is a verb and “Lehne” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,238
- “lehn” frequency rank
- #14,620
- “Lehne” frequency rank
- 48858
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lehn | Lehne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lehnen | Sitzmöbelteil, an den man sich anlehnen oder auf den man sich stützen kann |
Where the eye mixes lehn and Lehne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lehn runs 4 letters (CVCC) against Lehne's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses lehn with Lehne
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lehn is [leːn] while Lehne is [ˈleːnə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “lehn” sits inside “Lehne”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48858, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lehn is recorded at frequency rank #34,238, classified as averb, pronounced [leːn]. Lehne is at rank #14,620, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːnə].
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 48858, this pair ranks #1,232,989 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lehn vs Lehne
Shared letters: ehln. Private to "lehn": -. Private to "Lehne": -.
"lehn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "Lehne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lehn" and "Lehne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "lehn" or "Lehne"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "lehn" and "Lehne" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lehn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Lehne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,232,989 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lehn" and "Lehne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs lehn". 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 #1,232,989 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.