leihenvsleiserWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: leihen is a verb, leiser is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“leihen” is a verb and “leiser” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,283
“leihen” frequency rank
#11,087
“leiser” frequency rank
22370
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leihen leiser
Definition eine Sache einer anderen Person für begrenzte Zeit zur Verfügung stellen Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs leis

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
leihen
6 ch
leiser

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leihen is [ˈlaɪ̯ən] while leiser is [ˈlaɪ̯zɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22370, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leihen is recorded at frequency rank #11,283, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯ən]. leiser is at rank #11,087, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯zɐ].

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 22370, this pair ranks #1,875,004 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of leihen vs leiser

Shared letters: eil. Private to "leihen": hn. Private to "leiser": rs.

"leihen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "leiser" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leihenelihen · lehien · leiehn · leihenn · leihhen · leihne · liehen · lleihen
  • leisereliser · leiesr · leiserr · leisre · leisser · lesier · lieser · lleiser

Frequency comparison

leihen#11,283
leiser#11,087

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leihen" and "leiser" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leihen" is a verb and "leiser" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "leihen" or "leiser"?
"leiser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,087 in our German list, against #11,283 for "leihen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering leihen vs leiser

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “leihen”; for an adjective, it's “leiser”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “leihen” 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