Method for automatic character recognition employing a lexicon having updated character strings

In a method for automatic character recognition, character strings marked by word start and word end are formed from the discrete characters calculated with the assistance of a character classifier. These character strings are checked with stored comparison strings of a context lexicon with respect to identity or similarity. The context lexicon is continuously updated by continuous read-in of strings containing no rejection characters, whereby the repeated read-in of identical strings is counted. Current strings are compared to the strings of the context lexicon and that string which is optimum with respect to similarity and frequency is selected for further evaluation. A correction provided with reference to the context comparison is only executed when the substitution transposition is probable based on the classifier characteristic for the characters under consideration.