Tonleiter

[ˈtoːnˌlaɪ̯tɐ]

/[ˈtoːnˌlaɪ̯tɐ]/ noun

The verdict

“Tonleiter” is uncommon German (frequency #62,920 among 2,684 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#62,920
frequency rank, German
2,684
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - eine zusammenhängende auf- oder absteigende Reihenfolge von Tönen, in einer feststehenden Anordnung der Tonschritte

Corpus desk

Index DE-tonleiter · Tonleiter · German

Tonleiter · rank #62,920 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #62,920
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,684
  • PHOTO-FINISH Todsünden

Nearest frequency peer: Todsünden (-2 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.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „Tonleiter“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „Tonleiter“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Tonleiter
PropertyValue
HeadwordTonleiter
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈtoːnˌlaɪ̯tɐ]
Letters9
Frequency rank#62,920
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Tonleiter“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.Tonleiterfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Todsünden“ (#62,918), „Torheit“ (#62,922), „Todesursachen“ (#62,917). Unter 2,684 „T“-Lemmata liegt „Tonleiter“ bei #62,920. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Tonleiter is uncommon German at frequency #62,920 among 2,684 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈtoːnˌlaɪ̯tɐ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "eine zusammenhängende auf- oder absteigende Reihenfolge von Tönen, in einer feststehenden Anordnung der Tonschritte".

Tonleiter has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

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 Tonleiter, spelled T-O-N-L-E-I-T-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    eine zusammenhängende auf- oder absteigende Reihenfolge von Tönen, in einer feststehenden Anordnung der Tonschritte

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Verschiedene Instrumente und Kulturen haben ihre eigene Tonleiter.
  2. Zuerst spielten alle zu einem bestimmten Takt die C-Dur-Tonleiter. Danach improvisierten sie zum gleichen Takt mit den Noten dieser Tonleiter.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

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 "Tonleiter"?
"Tonleiter" is spelled T-O-N-L-E-I-T-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈtoːnˌlaɪ̯tɐ].
What does "Tonleiter" mean?
As a noun, "Tonleiter" means: eine zusammenhängende auf- oder absteigende Reihenfolge von Tönen, in einer feststehenden Anordnung der Tonschritte
How do you pronounce "Tonleiter"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Tonleiter" is [ˈtoːnˌlaɪ̯tɐ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Tonleiter" come from?
"Tonleiter" 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 "Tonleiter", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list