lehntenvslernenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,213
“lehnten” frequency rank
#636
“lernen” frequency rank
23849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lehnten lernen
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum des Verbs lehnen erarbeiten/erwerben/gewinnen von Kenntnissen und/oder geistigen oder körperlichen Fähigkeiten, Fertigkeiten und Erfahrungen

Where the eye mixes lehnten and lernen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
lehnten
6 ch
lernen

Visual trap between lehnten and lernen

A purely visual mix-up. lehnten ([ˈleːntn̩]) and lernen ([ˈlɛʁnən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lehnten is recorded at frequency rank #23,213, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːntn̩]. lernen is at rank #636, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlɛʁnən].

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 23849, this pair ranks #1,855,811 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lehnten vs lernen

Shared letters: eln. Private to "lehnten": ht. Private to "lernen": r.

"lehnten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "lernen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lehntenelhnten · lehhnten · lehnetn · lehnnten · lehntenn · lehntne · lehntten · lehtnen
  • lernenelrnen · lenren · lerenn · lernenn · lernne · lernnen · lerrnen · llernen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lehnten" and "lernen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːntn̩] versus [ˈlɛʁnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "lehnten" or "lernen" show up more?
"lernen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #636 in our German list, against #23,213 for "lehnten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "lehnten" and "lernen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lehnten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lernen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,855,811 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lehnten" and "lernen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lehnten 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 #1,855,811 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