lehrenvslehrtTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,323
“lehren” frequency rank
#10,894
“lehrt” frequency rank
17217
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lehren lehrt
Definition jemandem etwas (Lehrstoff, Wissen, Fertigkeiten, …) vermitteln, beibringen; jemanden in etwas unterrichten, unterweisen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lehren

Where the eye mixes lehren and lehrt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
lehren
5 ch
lehrt

Look-alike desk: lehren vs lehrt

A purely visual mix-up. lehren ([ˈleːʁən]) and lehrt ([leːɐ̯t]) 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 17217, 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]. lehrt is at rank #10,894, tagged as averb, pronounced [leːɐ̯t].

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 17217, this pair ranks #1,929,336 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lehren vs lehrt

Shared letters: ehlr. Private to "lehren": n. Private to "lehrt": t.

"lehren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "lehrt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lehrenelhren · lehern · lehhren · lehrenn · lehrne · lehrren · lerhen · lheren
  • lehrtelhrt · lehhrt · lehrrt · lehrtt · lehtr · lerht · lhert · llehrt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lehren" for "lehrt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːʁən] versus [leːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lehren" or "lehrt"?
"lehren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,323 in our German list, against #10,894 for "lehrt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lehrt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,929,336 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lehren" and "lehrt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lähmt vs lehrt". 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 #1,929,336 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