LeservsLosesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,347
“Leser” frequency rank
#49,058
“Loses” frequency rank
51405
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Leser Loses
Definition jemand, der liest Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Los

Where the eye mixes Leser and Loses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Leser and Loses follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Leser
5 ch
Loses

Look-alike desk: Leser vs Loses

A purely visual mix-up. Leser ([ˈleːzɐ]) and Loses ([ˈloːzəs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51405, 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]. 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 51405, this pair ranks #1,136,777 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Leser vs Loses

Shared letters: els. Private to "Leser": r. Private to "Loses": o.

"Leser" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Loses" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Leser ← elser · leesr · leserr · lesre · lesser · lleser · lseer
  • Loses ← lloses · loess · losess · losses · lsoes · olses

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Leser" for "Loses" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːzɐ] versus [ˈloːzəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Leser" vs "Loses" - which ranks higher?
"Leser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,347 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.

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 "Leser" 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 #1,136,777 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Leser" 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 #1,136,777 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