lesen
[ˈleːzn̩]
The verdict
“lesen” has 7 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #506. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #506
- frequency rank, German
- 2,640
- “L” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Schriftzeichen, Worte und Texte (mithilfe der Augen) wahrnehmen sowie (im Gehirn) verarbeiten und verstehen, sowie dies gegebenenfalls laut vorlesen
Corpus desk
Index DE-lesen · lesen · German
lesen · rank #506 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #506
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,640
- PHOTO-FINISH Laut
Nearest frequency peer: Laut (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “lesen”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Film
Film
99,498 corpus weight
- Internet
Internet
99,497 corpus weight
- Laut
Laut
99,496 corpus weight
- lesen
lesen
99,495 corpus weight
- oh
oh
99,494 corpus weight
- Personen
Personen
99,493 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “lesen” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around lesen (IPA [ˈleːzn̩]), averb. Corpus frequency is #506 among 2,640 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
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
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how lesen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Bevor ich schlafe, muss ich immer ein paar Seiten aus einem guten Buch lesen.
Wer heute nicht lesen und schreiben kann, hat keinerlei berufliche Aussichten.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "lesen"?
What does "lesen" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "lesen"?
How do you pronounce "lesen"?
What language does "lesen" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lesen", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "lesen". Here's where to go from here.
- "lesen" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "Lose". View pair
- 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #506 among German headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more German words in the "L" letter cohort. L–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.