leitevsLemkeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: leite is a verb, Lemke is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“leite” is a verb and “Lemke” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,339
“leite” frequency rank
#35,888
“Lemke” frequency rank
57227
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leite Lemke
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs leiten deutschsprachiger Nachname, Familienname

Letter map: leite vs Lemke

Shared letters muted; letters that set leite and Lemke apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
leite
5 ch
Lemke

Role in the sentence - leite and Lemke

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: leite is averb and Lemkeaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57227, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leite is recorded at frequency rank #21,339, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯tə]. Lemke is at rank #35,888, tagged as aname, pronounced […].

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 57227, this pair ranks #909,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leite vs Lemke

Shared letters: el. Private to "leite": it. Private to "Lemke": km.

"leite" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Lemke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leiteelite · leiet · letie · liete · lleite
  • Lemkeelmke · lekme · lemek · lemkke · lemmke · llemke · lmeke

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "leite" and "Lemke" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leite" is a verb and "Lemke" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "leite" or "Lemke" show up more?
"leite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,339 in our German list, against #35,888 for "Lemke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "leite" and "Lemke". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "leite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lemke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #909,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leite" and "Lemke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lemke vs puzzles". 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 #909,565 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