Which to use
“leiten” and “liken” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,101
- “leiten” frequency rank
- #39,513
- “liken” frequency rank
- 44614
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leiten | liken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die Führung ausüben | etwas nach seinem Geschmack finden, Wohlgefallen an etwas finden; jemanden leiden mögen |
Where the eye mixes leiten and liken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leiten runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against liken's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between leiten and liken
A purely visual mix-up. leiten ([ˈlaɪ̯tn̩]) and liken ([ˈlaɪ̯kn̩]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leiten is recorded at frequency rank #5,101, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯tn̩]. liken is at rank #39,513, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯kn̩].
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 44614, this pair ranks #1,380,461 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leiten vs liken
Shared letters: eiln. Private to "leiten": t. Private to "liken": k.
"leiten" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "liken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leiten" for "liken" ever safe?
Which is more common, "leiten" or "liken"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "leiten" and "liken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "leiten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "liken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,380,461 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leiten" and "liken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lauen vs liken". 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 #1,380,461 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.