lesevsLesensWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#2,907
“lese” frequency rank
#46,111
“Lesens” frequency rank
49018
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lese Lesens
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lesen Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Lesen

Where the eye mixes lese and Lesens

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lese
6 ch
Lesens

Look-alike desk: lese vs Lesens

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lese is [ˈleːzə] while Lesens is [ˈleːzn̩s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “lese” sits inside “Lesens”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49018, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lese is recorded at frequency rank #2,907, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːzə]. Lesens is at rank #46,111, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːzn̩s].

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 49018, this pair ranks #1,227,092 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lese vs Lesens

Shared letters: els. Private to "lese": -. Private to "Lesens": n.

"lese" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Lesens" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leseelse · lesse · llese · lsee
  • Lesenselsens · leesns · lesenns · lesenss · lesesn · lesnes · lessens · llesens

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lese" and "Lesens" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lese" is a verb and "Lesens" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "lese" or "Lesens" show up more?
"lese" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,907 in our German list, against #46,111 for "Lesens". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lese" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lesens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,227,092 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lese" and "Lesens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lesens vs Loses". 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 #1,227,092 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