leinenvsleoneWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: leinen is a adjective, leone is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“leinen” is an adjective and “leone” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,622
“leinen” frequency rank
#19,635
“leone” frequency rank
34257
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leinen leone
Definition aus Leinen gemacht der Löwe: Tier der Art der Katzen, das in Rudeln lebt und leicht an der Mähne des entsprechenden Männchens erkennbar ist

Where the eye mixes leinen and leone

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
leinen
5 ch
leone

Visual trap between leinen and leone

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leinen is [ˈlaɪ̯nən] while leone is [leˈoːne]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34257, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leinen is recorded at frequency rank #14,622, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯nən]. leone is at rank #19,635, tagged as anoun, pronounced [leˈoːne].

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 34257, this pair ranks #1,667,462 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of leinen vs leone

Shared letters: eln. Private to "leinen": i. Private to "leone": o.

"leinen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "leone" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leinenelinen · leienn · leinenn · leinnen · lenien · lienen · lleinen
  • leoneelone · lenoe · leoen · leonne · lleone · loene

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "leinen" and "leone" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leinen" is an adjective and "leone" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "leinen" vs "leone" - which ranks higher?
"leinen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,622 in our German list, against #19,635 for "leone". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "leinen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,667,462 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leinen" and "leone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leone vs Leos". 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 #1,667,462 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