A number of German verbs have legen as a root. Let's go alphabetically and explore some of the most common words. 

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The verbs auflegen and einlegen each have a number of different translations. The verb auflegen describes putting something on top of something else and, by extension, can mean "to hang up the phone" or "to play music as a DJ." It is also used to refer to publishing an edition. The verb einlegen literally means "to put something into something," which can be physical in the case of fermenting or pickling vegetables (eingelegtes Gemüse) or immaterial in the case of raising an objection (Einspruch einlegen) or taking a break (eine Pause einlegen). 

Max? -Henri, ich muss jetzt leider auflegen.

Max? -Henri, I have to hang up now, unfortunately.

Caption 28, Die Pfefferkörner: Endspurt

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Erschöpft legen Franz Obermeier, seine Söhne und Helfer eine Pause ein.

Exhausted, Franz Obermeier, his sons and helpers take a break.

Caption 8, Die letzten Paradiese Schätze der Natur: Südtirol

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The verb festlegen is more straightforward, as it is always related to determining, defining, or ascertaining something. 

Figuren und Reitstil sind seit Jahrhunderten genau festgelegt.

The figures and riding style have been precisely defined for centuries.

Caption 46, Die Alpen von oben - S1 E2: Von Graz ins Ausseerland

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And sich hinlegen simply means "to lie down." 

Es legte sich hin und schlief sofort ein.

She laid herself down and immediately fell asleep.

Caption 43, Märchen - Sagenhaft: Goldlöckchen und die drei Bären

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You'll hear the verb loslegen quite often at the beginning of Yabla videos: 

Ja, ja, das geht dann auch schneller. -Na, dann lass uns loslegen!

Yes, yes, then it will also go faster. -Well, then let's get started!

Caption 44, Abenteuer Nordsee: Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen

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The verb offenlegen means "to reveal."

Das Null-zu-null beim leidenschaftlich kämpfenden Hamburger SV legte das Problem des Rekordmeisters offen.

The zero to zero outcome against a Hamburg squad, [ho fought passionately, revealed the master record champion's main problem.

Captions 19-20, Fußball pur Paderborn: im Rausch

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The first non-separable verb of our list is überlegen, "to consider."  

Schön... Lass mich mal überlegen.

Nice... Let me think about it.

Caption 28, Deutsch mit Eylin: Anruf bei einer neuen Bekannten

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The verb verlegen means "to misplace" or "to lose," but it is also an adjective that means "embarrassed." 

„Ach so, hm“, meinte Frederick verlegen. „Dann können wir ja weitergehen.“

"Ah, so, hm," said Frederick sheepishly. "Then, indeed, we can keep walking."

Caption 34, Piggeldy und Frederick: Das Lachen

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The verb zurücklegen means "to put back," but also "to cover" in the context below:

Elftausend Kilometer haben Sie mit dem Fahrrad zurückgelegt.

You have traveled eleven thousand kilometers [nearly seven thousand miles] with the bicycle.

Caption 8, Mountainbiken: Auf dem Anden-Trail

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Further Learning
You'll find many videos with these verbs used in context on Yabla German. You can also do a search for many other verbs with the root legen, such as ablegen, anlegen, beilegen, freilegen, and more. 

In a previous Yabla German lesson, we discussed heterographs. Today, we'll be taking a look at homographs. These are homophonic words, which means they are words that sound the same and are spelled the same, but have different meanings. Homographs can be quite confusing in spoken language, because the only way to know the meanings of the words—since they sound the same—is by the context in which they are used. In German, the gender of the word can play a significant role. The word "homograph" comes from Ancient Greek and literally means "written the same."

Note too that in German, regional differences in pronunciation can sometimes make a set of words homophones in one region, but not in another. Keep in mind that because of the capitalization of nouns in German, in order for two words to be true homographs, they must both be the the same case, with the first letters either lower or upper case. So while the adjective arm ("poor") may be the same letters and sound the same as the noun der Arm ("arm"), they are homophones but not strictly homographs because of the difference in cases. Since all nouns are capitalized in German, this means that a noun can never be a homograph of a verb, adjective, or adverb in German. This makes for very few homographs in German compared to English and other languages! Here are a few examples.

Zu seiner Überraschung fielen alle sieben Fliegen auf den Tisch.

To his surprise, all seven flies fell onto the table.

Caption 12, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Das tapfere Schneiderlein

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Angst vor dem Fliegen hat sie jedenfalls nicht.

Fear of flying, in any case, she does not have.

Caption 4, Im Höhenflug - Ariadne (die Ex von Lothar Matthäus)

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The plural of the insect "fly" (die Fliege) is die Fliegen, and the noun das Fliegen comes from the verb fliegen ("to fly"). We can invent some funny sentences with these word combinations: Haben Fliegen Angst vor fliegen? ("Are flies afraid of flying?") What a silly question!

Im Sommer verschmäht er auch Insekten und Spinnen nicht.

In summer, it does not reject insects and spiders, either.

Caption 15, Die letzten Paradiese - Schätze der Natur: Südtirol

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Dieses Konzept ermöglicht das Spinnen von zwei verschiedenen Garnfeinheiten gleichzeitig.
This concept enables the spinning of two different yarn counts simultaneously.

The plural of the arachnid "spider" (die Spinne) is die Spinnen, and the noun das Spinnen is yet again a noun derived from the verb spinnen ("to spin"). Sind die Spinnen an all das Spinnen gewöhnt? ("Are the spiders used to all the spinning?") It's logical that the German words for "spinning" and for "spiders" are nearly the same. Spinning webs is what spiders do best, right?

Mit dem ersten Band kündigt die junge Autorin ihre literarischen
Ambitionen an.
With the first volume, the young author is announcing her literary ambitions.

Die Band ist eingespielt; die Models wissen, wie sie laufen müssen.

The band has warmed up; the models know how they must walk.

Caption 29, Mode - Backstage auf der Modenschau

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Daher umsäumt ein helles Band den Weißensee und gibt ihm seinen Namen.

From that, a bright band surrounds the Weissensee and gives it its name.

Caption 14, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten

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In the three examples above, we see der Band, die Band and das Band, three words that are spelled and pronounced the same, but have different genders and meanings. Der Band means a volume in a set of books; die Band comes from the English word "band" as in a musical group; das Band has the most meanings, and can mean a band such as a silk band, or a belt, ribbon, strap, tie, tape or even the belt in a conveyor belt, depending upon the context. Note too that the three words have different plurals: Der Band = die Bände; die Band = die Bands; das Band = die Bänder (alternately: die Bande). The easiest one here to remember is that since die Band comes from English, its plural is from the English too with -s.

Let's go for all three in one sentence, shall we?

Welcher Band der Diskografie der Band wurde auf Band aufgenommen?

We can decrypt the above by gender: Welcher Band in the nominative case makes for der Band, thus "volume"; der Band is in the genitive case, thus in the nominative case is die Band, or "band" as in musical group; the last Band has no pronoun, but the verb aufgenommen (recorded) tells us it must be referring to magnetic recording tape, thus das Band.

Which volume of the band's discography was recorded on tape?

Or in plural:

Welche Bände der Diskografien der Bands wurden auf Bänder aufgenommen?
Which volumes of the bands' discographies were recorded on tapes?

Luckily, this is about as complicated as German gets! In most cases, people would use das Tonband (die Tonbänder) for "recording tape" too. Let's just take a deep breath now and know that even some native German speakers might have some problems with this one.

Further Learning
Take a look at these examples of German homophones on Wikipedia and find some examples of the words used in a real-world context on Yabla German. Then see if you can create some German sentences using both homophones in the same sentence. You are allowed to make up silly sentences if you want to, of course!

This week, we'll augment our series of lessons about animal names with some basic vocabulary related to plants. Yabla has many videos about the natural world, so it's not so hard to get a good overview. It is also most fitting to the season, with everything currently in full bloom in Germany.

Diese setzt sich aus Gras, Früchten, Wurzeln, Zweigen und Rinde zusammen.

This consists of grass, fruits, roots, branches, and bark.

Caption 30, Evolution: An Land

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Der perfekt getarnte Hühnervogel ernährt sich von Knospen, Samen, Beeren und Wurzeln.

The perfectly camouflaged landfowl feeds on buds, seeds, berries, and roots.

Captions 13-14, Die letzten Paradiese Schätze der Natur: Südtirol

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„Es heißt“, sagte Piggeldy, „Blume, Kopf und Stängel“.

"They are called," said Piggeldy, "flower, head, and stem."

Caption 12, Piggeldy und Frederick: Blume

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Like in English, some vocabulary is more specific to trees:

Jetzt bin ich hinter dem Baumstamm.

Now I'm behind the tree trunk.

Caption 12, Diane erklärt: Präpositionen

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Doch der Mäusebussard auf dem Ast hat die scheue Katze nur aufgeschreckt.

But the common buzzard on the branch just startled the shy cat.

Caption 22, Alpenseen: Kühle Schönheiten

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A leaf, whether it's the leaf of a tree, a plant, or even a leaf of paper, is das Blatt in German. The plural is die Blätter. 

Im Oktober fallen die ersten Blätter und der Herbst beginnt.

In October, the first leaves fall and autumn begins.

Caption 30, Deutsch mit Eylin: Wochentage, Monate und Jahreszeiten

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Dazu zupfe ich von meinem Basilikumtopf ein paar Blätter ab

For this, I pluck off a few leaves from my basil pot

Caption 30, Cannelloni: mit Jenny

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Es macht halt Spaß, und halt nicht vor ein einem Blatt Papier zu stehen, und jede Aufgabe zehn mal abzuschreiben.

It's just fun, and just to not be standing in front of a sheet of paper and copying each task ten times.

Captions 92-93, Nena: Das 1x1 mit den Hits von NENA

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Further Learning
If you have plants in your home or nearby, see if you can describe them with the vocabulary above from Yabla German. You can also read our lesson on gardening vocabulary.