leidevsLeineWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: leide is a adjective, Leine is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“leide” is an adjective and “Leine” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,424
“leide” frequency rank
#9,763
“Leine” frequency rank
23187
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leide Leine
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs leid längere feste Schnur, an der etwas festgemacht wird oder mit der etwas festgemacht wird; dünnes Seil

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set leide and Leine apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
leide
5 ch
Leine

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leide is [ˈlaɪ̯də] while Leine is [ˈlaɪ̯nə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “leide” becomes n in “Leine”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leide is recorded at frequency rank #13,424, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯də]. Leine is at rank #9,763, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯nə].

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 23187, this pair ranks #1,864,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of leide vs Leine

Shared letters: eil. Private to "leide": d. Private to "Leine": n.

"leide" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Leine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leideelide · ledie · leidde · leied · liede · lleide
  • Leineeline · leien · leinne · lenie · liene · lleine

Frequency comparison

leide#13,424
Leine#9,763

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leide" and "Leine" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leide" is an adjective and "Leine" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "leide" or "Leine"?
"Leine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,763 in our German list, against #13,424 for "leide". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering leide vs Leine

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “leide”; for a noun, it's “Leine”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “leide” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list