Which to use
“leisen” is an adjective and “leisten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,323
- “leisen” frequency rank
- #1,397
- “leisten” frequency rank
- 21720
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leisen | leisten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs leise | sich selbst etwas Gutes tun, sich etwas gönnen |
Where the eye mixes leisen and leisten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. leisen runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against leisten's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between leisen and leisten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leisen is [ˈlaɪ̯zn̩] while leisten is [ˈlaɪ̯stn̩]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21720, 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]. leisten is at rank #1,397, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯stn̩].
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 21720, this pair ranks #1,882,943 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of leisen vs leisten
Shared letters: eilns. Private to "leisen": -. Private to "leisten": t.
"leisen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "leisten" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leisen" for "leisten" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "leisen" or "leisten" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "leisen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leisten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,882,943 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leisen" and "leisten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leisen vs lenzen". 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 #1,882,943 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.