lehrvsletsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,120
“lehr” frequency rank
#18,317
“lets” frequency rank
32437
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lehr lets
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lehren 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs let

Letter map: lehr vs lets

Shared letters muted; letters that set lehr and lets apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
lehr
4 ch
lets

Spelling & dictionary notes on lehr vs lets

lehr and lets are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32437, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lehr is recorded at frequency rank #14,120, classified as averb, pronounced [leːɐ̯]. lets is at rank #18,317, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 32437, this pair ranks #1,707,583 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lehr vs lets

Shared letters: el. Private to "lehr": hr. Private to "lets": st.

"lehr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lets" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lehrelhr · lehhr · lehrr · lerh · lher · llehr
  • letselts · letss · letts · llets · ltes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lehr" and "lets" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "lehr" or "lets" show up more?
"lehr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,120 in our German list, against #18,317 for "lets". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "lehr" vs "lets" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lehr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lets" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,707,583 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lehr" and "lets" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lets vs puzzles". 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 #1,707,583 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