lehntenvsLeutenConfusable pair

Quick tell: lehnten is a verb, Leuten is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lehnten” is a verb and “Leuten” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,213
“lehnten” frequency rank
#1,114
“Leuten” frequency rank
24327
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lehnten Leuten
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum des Verbs lehnen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Leute

Where the eye mixes lehnten and Leuten

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

7 ch
lehnten
6 ch
Leuten

Look-alike desk: lehnten vs Leuten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lehnten is [ˈleːntn̩] while Leuten is [ˈlɔɪ̯tn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24327, 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]. Leuten is at rank #1,114, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔɪ̯tn̩].

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 24327, this pair ranks #1,849,180 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lehnten vs Leuten

Shared letters: elnt. Private to "lehnten": h. Private to "Leuten": u.

"lehnten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "Leuten" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lehntenelhnten · lehhnten · lehnetn · lehnnten · lehntenn · lehntne · lehntten · lehtnen
  • Leuteneluten · letuen · leuetn · leutenn · leutne · leutten · lleuten · lueten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lehnten" and "Leuten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lehnten" is a verb and "Leuten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "lehnten" or "Leuten" show up more?
"Leuten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,114 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.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lehnten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Leuten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,849,180 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lehnten" and "Leuten" 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 #1,849,180 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