LeservsLesernWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Leser” and “Lesern” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,347
“Leser” frequency rank
#11,473
“Lesern” frequency rank
13820
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Leser Lesern
Definition jemand, der liest Dativ Plural des Substantivs Leser

Where the eye mixes Leser and Lesern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Leser
6 ch
Lesern

Look-alike desk: Leser vs Lesern

A purely visual mix-up. Leser ([ˈleːzɐ]) and Lesern ([ˈleːzɐn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Leser” sits inside “Lesern”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Leser is recorded at frequency rank #2,347, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːzɐ]. Lesern is at rank #11,473, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈleːzɐn].

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 13820, this pair ranks #1,955,462 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Leser vs Lesern

Shared letters: elrs. Private to "Leser": -. Private to "Lesern": n.

"Leser" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Lesern" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Leserelser · leesr · leserr · lesre · lesser · lleser · lseer
  • Lesernelsern · leesrn · lesenr · lesernn · leserrn · lesren · lessern · llesern

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Leser" for "Lesern" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːzɐ] versus [ˈleːzɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Leser" or "Lesern"?
"Leser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,347 in our German list, against #11,473 for "Lesern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Leser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lesern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,955,462 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Leser" and "Lesern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lasern vs Lesern". 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 #1,955,462 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