leisenvsleisesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,323
“leisen” frequency rank
#24,027
“leises” frequency rank
44350
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leisen leises
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs leise Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs leise

Where the eye mixes leisen and leises

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. leisen and leises follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
leisen
6 ch
leises

Why the eye confuses leisen with leises

A purely visual mix-up. leisen ([ˈlaɪ̯zn̩]) and leises ([ˈlaɪ̯zəs]) 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 a single letter - n in “leisen” becomes s in “leises”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44350, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leisen is recorded at frequency rank #20,323, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯zn̩]. leises is at rank #24,027, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯zəs].

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 44350, this pair ranks #1,389,049 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leisen vs leises

Shared letters: eils. Private to "leisen": n. Private to "leises": -.

"leisen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "leises" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leisen ← elisen · leiesn · leisenn · leisne · leissen · lesien · liesen · lleisen
  • leises ← elises · leiess · leisess · leisses · lesies · lieses · lleises

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "leisen" and "leises" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaɪ̯zn̩] versus [ˈlaɪ̯zəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "leisen" vs "leises" - which ranks higher?
"leisen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,323 in our German list, against #24,027 for "leises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "leisen" and "leises" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "leisen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,389,049 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leisen" and "leises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leises vs Loses". 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 #1,389,049 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