lemonvslernWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: lemon is a noun, lern is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lemon” is a noun and “lern” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,151
“lemon” frequency rank
#11,472
“lern” frequency rank
43623
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lemon lern
Definition Zitrone 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lernen

Letter map: lemon vs lern

Shared letters muted; letters that set lemon and lern apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
lemon
4 ch
lern

Grammar separator: lemon vs lern

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lemon is anoun and lernaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lemon is recorded at frequency rank #32,151, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. lern is at rank #11,472, tagged as averb, pronounced [lɛʁn].

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 43623, this pair ranks #1,412,218 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lemon vs lern

Shared letters: eln. Private to "lemon": mo. Private to "lern": r.

"lemon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lemonelmon · lemmon · lemno · lemonn · leomn · llemon · lmeon
  • lernelrn · lenr · lernn · lerrn · llern · lren

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lemon" for "lern" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lemon" is a noun and "lern" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "lemon" vs "lern" - which ranks higher?
"lern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,472 in our German list, against #32,151 for "lemon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "lemon" and "lern".

  • Full dictionary entry for "lemon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,412,218 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lemon" and "lern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lemon 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 #1,412,218 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