LeinevsLinkeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#9,763
“Leine” frequency rank
#1,185
“Linke” frequency rank
10948
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Leine Linke
Definition längere feste Schnur, an der etwas festgemacht wird oder mit der etwas festgemacht wird; dünnes Seil die links gelegene Hand

Where the eye mixes Leine and Linke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Leine (CVVCV) and Linke (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Leine
5 ch
Linke

Look-alike desk: Leine vs Linke

A purely visual mix-up. Leine ([ˈlaɪ̯nə]) and Linke ([ˈlɪŋkə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10948, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Leine is recorded at frequency rank #9,763, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯nə]. Linke is at rank #1,185, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɪŋkə].

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 10948, this pair ranks #1,972,496 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Leine vs Linke

Shared letters: eiln. Private to "Leine": -. Private to "Linke": k.

"Leine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Linke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Leineeline · leien · leinne · lenie · liene · lleine
  • Linkeilnke · likne · linek · linkke · linnke · llinke · lnike

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Leine" and "Linke" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaɪ̯nə] versus [ˈlɪŋkə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Leine" or "Linke" show up more?
"Linke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,185 in our German list, against #9,763 for "Leine". 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 "Leine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Linke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,972,496 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Leine" and "Linke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Leibes vs Leine". 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 #1,972,496 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