LehrevsLehrernWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,840
“Lehre” frequency rank
#7,786
“Lehrern” frequency rank
10626
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lehre Lehrern
Definition sprachliche Darstellung eines Wissensgebietes in Lehrbüchern oder Vorträgen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Lehrer

Where the eye mixes Lehre and Lehrern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Lehre runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Lehrern's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Lehre
7 ch
Lehrern

Look-alike desk: Lehre vs Lehrern

A purely visual mix-up. Lehre ([ˈleːʁə]) and Lehrern ([ˈleːʁɐn]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Lehre” sits inside “Lehrern”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10626, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lehre is recorded at frequency rank #2,840, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːʁə]. Lehrern is at rank #7,786, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːʁɐn].

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 10626, this pair ranks #1,974,188 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lehre vs Lehrern

Shared letters: ehlr. Private to "Lehre": -. Private to "Lehrern": n.

"Lehre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Lehrern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lehre ← elhre · leher · lehhre · lerhe · lhere · llehre
  • Lehrern ← elhrern · leherrn · lehhrern · lehrenr · lehrernn · lehrerrn · lehrrern · lerhern

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lehre" for "Lehrern" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːʁə] versus [ˈleːʁɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Lehre" vs "Lehrern" - which ranks higher?
"Lehre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,840 in our German list, against #7,786 for "Lehrern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lehre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lehrern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,974,188 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lehre" and "Lehrern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lehre vs Lepra". 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 #1,974,188 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