lesen
[ˈleːzn̩]
The verdict
“lesen” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #506 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #506
- frequency rank, German
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Schriftzeichen, Worte und Texte (mithilfe der Augen) wahrnehmen sowie (im Gehirn) verarbeiten und verstehen, sowie dies gegebenenfalls laut vorlesen
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lesen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈleːzn̩] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #506 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lesen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for lesen is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈleːzn̩]. Corpus data places it at rank #506 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for lesen, with forms such as "elsen", "leesn", and "lesenn". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Lose", "lest", "less", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is lesen, spelled L-E-S-E-N.
Definition
- 1Schriftzeichen, Worte und Texte (mithilfe der Augen) wahrnehmen sowie (im Gehirn) verarbeiten und verstehen, sowie dies gegebenenfalls laut vorlesen
- 2Dinge auswählen, um sie danach aufzusammeln und zusammenzutragen
- 3Dinge in die Hand nehmen, um Schlechtes/Falsches (schlechte/falsche Früchte und Ähnliches) auszusortieren
- 4einen Lehrvortrag (Vorlesung) halten
- 5aufgezeichnete Daten von einem Träger aufnehmen
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: elsen,leesn,lesenn,lesne,lessen,llesen,lseen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lesen - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "lesen"?
What does "lesen" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “lesen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is L-E-S-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈleːzn̩] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Lose” - see the side-by-side comparison. lesen vs Lose
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.