lernvslexTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#11,472
“lern” frequency rank
#12,961
“lex” frequency rank
24433
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lern lex
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lernen das Recht, das Gesetz, die Gesetzessammlung

Letter map: lern vs lex

Shared letters muted; letters that set lern and lex apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
lern
3 ch
lex

Part-of-speech tell for lern / lex

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lern is averb and lexanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24433, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lern is recorded at frequency rank #11,472, classified as averb, pronounced [lɛʁn]. lex is at rank #12,961, tagged as anoun.

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 24433, this pair ranks #1,847,720 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lern vs lex

Shared letters: el. Private to "lern": nr. Private to "lex": x.

"lern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lex" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lernelrn · lenr · lernn · lerrn · llern · lren

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lern" and "lex" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lern" is a verb and "lex" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "lern" or "lex" show up more?
"lern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,472 in our German list, against #12,961 for "lex". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "lern" and "lex". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,847,720 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lern" and "lex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs lex". 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 #1,847,720 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