leihevsleitetTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,394
“leihe” frequency rank
#4,137
“leitet” frequency rank
31531
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leihe leitet
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs leihen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs leiten

Where the eye mixes leihe and leitet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leihe runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against leitet's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
leihe
6 ch
leitet

Look-alike desk: leihe vs leitet

A purely visual mix-up. leihe ([ˈlaɪ̯ə]) and leitet ([ˈlaɪ̯tət]) 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 31531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leihe is recorded at frequency rank #27,394, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯ə]. leitet is at rank #4,137, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯tət].

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 31531, this pair ranks #1,726,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of leihe vs leitet

Shared letters: eil. Private to "leihe": h. Private to "leitet": t.

"leihe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "leitet" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leihe ← elihe · lehie · leieh · leihhe · liehe · lleihe
  • leitet ← elitet · leiett · leitett · leitte · leittet · letiet · lietet · lleitet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "leihe" for "leitet" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaɪ̯ə] versus [ˈlaɪ̯tət]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "leihe" vs "leitet" - which ranks higher?
"leitet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,137 in our German list, against #27,394 for "leihe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "leihe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leitet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,726,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leihe" and "leitet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Leibes vs leihe". 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 #1,726,192 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