lesenvsLogenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#506
“lesen” frequency rank
#35,896
“Logen” frequency rank
36402
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lesen Logen
Definition Schriftzeichen, Worte und Texte (mithilfe der Augen) wahrnehmen sowie (im Gehirn) verarbeiten und verstehen, sowie dies gegebenenfalls laut vorlesen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Loge

Where the eye mixes lesen and Logen

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

5 ch
lesen
5 ch
Logen

Visual trap between lesen and Logen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lesen is [ˈleːzn̩] while Logen is [ˈloːʒn̩]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36402, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lesen is recorded at frequency rank #506, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːzn̩]. Logen is at rank #35,896, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈloːʒn̩].

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 36402, this pair ranks #1,616,509 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lesen vs Logen

Shared letters: eln. Private to "lesen": s. Private to "Logen": go.

"lesen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Logen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lesenelsen · leesn · lesenn · lesne · lessen · llesen · lseen
  • Logenlgoen · llogen · loegn · logenn · loggen · logne · olgen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lesen" and "Logen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lesen" is a verb and "Logen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "lesen" or "Logen" show up more?
"lesen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #506 in our German list, against #35,896 for "Logen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lesen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Logen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,616,509 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lesen" and "Logen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Logen 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 #1,616,509 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