Which to use
“leiden” and “liken” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,776
- “leiden” frequency rank
- #39,513
- “liken” frequency rank
- 41289
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leiden | liken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | starke psychische oder physische Schmerzen verspüren | etwas nach seinem Geschmack finden, Wohlgefallen an etwas finden; jemanden leiden mögen |
Where the eye mixes leiden and liken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leiden runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against liken's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between leiden and liken
A purely visual mix-up. leiden ([ˈlaɪ̯dn̩]) and liken ([ˈlaɪ̯kn̩]) 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 41289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leiden is recorded at frequency rank #1,776, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯dn̩]. liken is at rank #39,513, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯kn̩].
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 41289, this pair ranks #1,483,868 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leiden vs liken
Shared letters: eiln. Private to "leiden": d. Private to "liken": k.
"leiden" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "liken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leiden" for "liken" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "leiden" or "liken" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "leiden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "liken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,483,868 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leiden" and "liken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lauen vs liken". 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 #1,483,868 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.