LöchernvslockereWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#18,323
“Löchern” frequency rank
#18,321
“lockere” frequency rank
36644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Löchern lockere
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Loch 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lockern

Where the eye mixes Löchern and lockere

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Löchern (CVCCVCC) and lockere (CVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
Löchern
7 ch
lockere

Visual trap between Löchern and lockere

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Löchern is [ˈlœçɐn] while lockere is [ˈlɔkəʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36644, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Löchern is recorded at frequency rank #18,323, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlœçɐn]. lockere is at rank #18,321, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈlɔkəʁə].

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 36644, this pair ranks #1,610,291 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Löchern vs lockere

Shared letters: celr. Private to "Löchern": hnö. Private to "lockere": ko.

"Löchern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "lockere" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lockere ← lcokere · llockere · locckere · locekre · lockeer · lockkere · lockree · lokcere

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Löchern" and "lockere" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Löchern" is a noun and "lockere" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Löchern" or "lockere" show up more?
"lockere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,321 in our German list, against #18,323 for "Löchern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Löchern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lockere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,610,291 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Löchern" and "lockere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Löchern vs lockert". 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 #1,610,291 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