NiederlagevsniederlegenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,777
“Niederlage” frequency rank
#34,832
“niederlegen” frequency rank
37609
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Niederlage niederlegen
Definition das Unterliegen/Besiegtwerden bei einer Auseinandersetzung im militärischen, persönlichen oder sportlichen Sinne etwas nach unten legen, etwas auf den Boden legen

Where the eye mixes Niederlage and niederlegen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. Niederlage runs 10 letters (CVVCVCCVCV) against niederlegen's 11 (CVVCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
Niederlage
11 ch
niederlegen

Look-alike desk: Niederlage vs niederlegen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Niederlage is [ˈniːdɐˌlaːɡə] while niederlegen is [ˈniːdɐˌleːɡn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37609, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Niederlage is recorded at frequency rank #2,777, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈniːdɐˌlaːɡə]. niederlegen is at rank #34,832, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈniːdɐˌleːɡn̩].

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 37609, this pair ranks #1,585,698 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Niederlage vs niederlegen

Shared letters: degilnr. Private to "Niederlage": a. Private to "niederlegen": -.

"Niederlage" · 10 letters · shape CVVCVCCVCV  ·  "niederlegen" · 11 letters · shape CVVCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Niederlage ← inederlage · neiderlage · nideerlage · niedderlage · niedelrage · niederalge · niederlaeg · niederlagge
  • niederlegen ← inederlegen · neiderlegen · nideerlegen · niedderlegen · niedelregen · niederelgen · niederleegn · niederlegenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Niederlage" for "niederlegen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Niederlage" is a noun and "niederlegen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Niederlage" or "niederlegen"?
"Niederlage" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,777 in our German list, against #34,832 for "niederlegen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Niederlage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "niederlegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,585,698 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Niederlage" and "niederlegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "niederlegen vs Niederungen". 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 #1,585,698 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