lehrenvsLehrernWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#6,323
“lehren” frequency rank
#7,786
“Lehrern” frequency rank
14109
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lehren Lehrern
Definition jemandem etwas (Lehrstoff, Wissen, Fertigkeiten, …) vermitteln, beibringen; jemanden in etwas unterrichten, unterweisen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Lehrer

Where the eye mixes lehren and Lehrern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. lehren runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Lehrern's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
lehren
7 ch
Lehrern

Look-alike desk: lehren vs Lehrern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lehren is [ˈleːʁən] while Lehrern is [ˈleːʁɐn]. 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 14109, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lehren is recorded at frequency rank #6,323, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːʁən]. 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 14109, this pair ranks #1,953,499 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lehren vs Lehrern

Shared letters: ehlnr. Private to "lehren": -. Private to "Lehrern": -.

"lehren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Lehrern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lehren ← elhren · lehern · lehhren · lehrenn · lehrne · lehrren · lerhen · lheren
  • Lehrern ← elhrern · leherrn · lehhrern · lehrenr · lehrernn · lehrerrn · lehrrern · lerhern

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lehren" and "Lehrern" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lehren" is a verb and "Lehrern" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lehren" or "Lehrern"?
"lehren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,323 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lehren" 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 #1,953,499 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lehren" and "Lehrern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lehren 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 #1,953,499 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