Which to use
“leihe” and “lire” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,394
- “leihe” frequency rank
- #38,882
- “lire” frequency rank
- 66276
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leihe | lire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs leihen | Schriftzeichen, Worte und Texte wahrnehmen, verarbeiten und verstehen |
Where the eye mixes leihe and lire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. leihe runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against lire's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses leihe with lire
A purely visual mix-up. leihe ([ˈlaɪ̯ə]) and lire ([liʁ]) 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 66276, 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]. lire is at rank #38,882, tagged as averb, pronounced [liʁ].
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 66276, this pair ranks #578,671 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leihe vs lire
Shared letters: eil. Private to "leihe": h. Private to "lire": r.
"leihe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "lire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "leihe" and "lire" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "leihe" vs "lire" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "leihe" and "lire" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "leihe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #578,671 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leihe" and "lire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs lire". 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 #578,671 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.