Leo

[ˈleːo]

/[ˈleːo]/ name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“Leo” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #4,217) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#4,217
frequency rank, German
2,640
“L” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - männlicher Vorname

Corpus desk

Index DE-leo · Leo · German

Leo · rank #4,217 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,217
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,640
  • PHOTO-FINISH kritische

Nearest frequency peer: kritische (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „Leo“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „Leo“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Leo vs Li
33% similar
Leo vs LG
33% similar
Leo vs LP
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Leo
PropertyValue
HeadwordLeo
LanguageGerman
Part of speechProper noun
IPA[ˈleːo]
Letters3
Frequency rank#4,217
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „Leo“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.Leoliegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „kritische“ (#4,216), „Lippen“ (#4,218), „konkret“ (#4,215). Unter 2,640 „L“-Lemmata liegt „Leo“ bei #4,217. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for Leo is neighbouring look-alikes ("Li", "LG", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun pronounced [ˈleːo]. Frequency #4,217 among 2,640 “L” headwords. Gloss: "männlicher Vorname".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Leo, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Li", "LG", "LP", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is Leo, spelled L-E-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    männlicher Vorname

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how Leo appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Der kleine Leo hat wieder Kirschen stibitzt.

This word in other languages

Leon(English)Léo(Français)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Leo"?
"Leo" is spelled L-E-O. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈleːo].
What does "Leo" mean?
As a proper noun, "Leo" means: männlicher Vorname
What words are commonly confused with "Leo"?
"Leo" is commonly confused with "Li", "LG", "LP". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Leo"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Leo" is [ˈleːo]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Leo" come from?
"Leo" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Leo", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

off#4,224CO2#4,186Wut#4,174Rio#4,154

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list