Which to use
“belieben” is a verb and “beliebig” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,042
- “belieben” frequency rank
- #8,837
- “beliebig” frequency rank
- 23879
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | belieben | beliebig |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lust haben, etwas zu tun | frei aus vorhandenen Möglichkeiten auswählbar oder nach eigenem Gutdünken bei etwas vorgehend |
Where the eye mixes belieben and beliebig
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. belieben and beliebig follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between belieben and beliebig
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: belieben is [bəˈliːbn̩] while beliebig is [bəˈliːbɪç]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
belieben is recorded at frequency rank #15,042, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈliːbn̩]. beliebig is at rank #8,837, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈliːbɪç].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 23879, this pair ranks #1,855,390 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of belieben vs beliebig
Shared letters: beil. Private to "belieben": n. Private to "beliebig": g.
"belieben" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC · "beliebig" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "belieben" for "beliebig" ever safe?
Which is more common, "belieben" or "beliebig"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "belieben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "beliebig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,855,390 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "belieben" and "beliebig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begierig vs beliebig". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,855,390 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.