lesevsLosesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,907
“lese” frequency rank
#49,058
“Loses” frequency rank
51965
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lese Loses
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lesen Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Los

Where the eye mixes lese and Loses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lese
5 ch
Loses

Visual trap between lese and Loses

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lese is [ˈleːzə] while Loses is [ˈloːzəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51965, 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]. Loses is at rank #49,058, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈloːzəs].

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 51965, this pair ranks #1,115,160 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lese vs Loses

Shared letters: els. Private to "lese": -. Private to "Loses": o.

"lese" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Loses" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leseelse · lesse · llese · lsee
  • Loseslloses · loess · losess · losses · lsoes · olses

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lese" and "Loses" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lese" is a verb and "Loses" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lese" or "Loses"?
"lese" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,907 in our German list, against #49,058 for "Loses". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "lese" and "Loses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lese" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Loses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,115,160 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lese" and "Loses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees 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 #1,115,160 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