Which to use
“lehnen” and “letzen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,403
- “lehnen” frequency rank
- #20,655
- “letzen” frequency rank
- 30058
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lehnen | letzen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | den Körper schräg stellen | sich erquicken |
Where the eye mixes lehnen and letzen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lehnen and letzen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: lehnen vs letzen
A purely visual mix-up. lehnen ([ˈleːnən]) and letzen ([ˈlɛt͡sn̩]) 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 30058, 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]. letzen is at rank #20,655, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlɛt͡sn̩].
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 30058, this pair ranks #1,755,205 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lehnen vs letzen
Shared letters: eln. Private to "lehnen": h. Private to "letzen": tz.
"lehnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "letzen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lehnen" and "letzen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "lehnen" or "letzen" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lehnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "letzen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,755,205 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lehnen" and "letzen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Laatzen vs letzen". 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 #1,755,205 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.