Which to use
“Leitern” is an unknown and “leitete” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,423
- “Leitern” frequency rank
- #6,949
- “leitete” frequency rank
- 31372
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Leitern | leitete |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Plural der weiblichen Substantive Leiter | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs leiten |
Where the eye mixes Leitern and leitete
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Leitern (CVVCVCC) and leitete (CVVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between Leitern and leitete
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Leitern is [ˈlaɪ̯tɐn] while leitete is [ˈlaɪ̯tətə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Leitern is recorded at frequency rank #24,423, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯tɐn]. leitete is at rank #6,949, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯tətə].
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 31372, this pair ranks #1,729,451 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Leitern vs leitete
Shared letters: eilt. Private to "Leitern": nr. Private to "leitete": -.
"Leitern" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "leitete" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Leitern" for "leitete" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Leitern" or "leitete" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Leitern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leitete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,729,451 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Leitern" and "leitete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Leitern vs letten". 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 #1,729,451 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.