Which to use
“lehnen” is a verb and “leisen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,403
- “lehnen” frequency rank
- #20,323
- “leisen” frequency rank
- 29726
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lehnen | leisen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | den Körper schräg stellen | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs leise |
Where the eye mixes lehnen and leisen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lehnen (CVCCVC) and leisen (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses lehnen with leisen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lehnen is [ˈleːnən] while leisen is [ˈlaɪ̯zn̩]. 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 29726, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lehnen is recorded at frequency rank #9,403, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːnən]. leisen is at rank #20,323, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯zn̩].
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 29726, this pair ranks #1,761,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lehnen vs leisen
Shared letters: eln. Private to "lehnen": h. Private to "leisen": is.
"lehnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "leisen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lehnen" and "leisen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "lehnen" or "leisen"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lehnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leisen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,761,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lehnen" and "leisen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leisen 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 #1,761,418 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.