Which to use
“Blei” and “Bleibe” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,614
- “Blei” frequency rank
- #3,428
- “Bleibe” frequency rank
- 15042
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Blei | Bleibe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | silbernes, leicht verformbares, toxisch wirkendes Metall | vorübergehende Unterkunft |
Where the eye mixes Blei and Bleibe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Blei runs 4 letters (CCVV) against Bleibe's 6 (CCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Blei and Bleibe
A purely visual mix-up. Blei ([blaɪ̯]) and Bleibe ([ˈblaɪ̯bə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Blei” sits inside “Bleibe”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15042, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Blei is recorded at frequency rank #11,614, classified as anoun, pronounced [blaɪ̯]. Bleibe is at rank #3,428, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈblaɪ̯bə].
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 15042, this pair ranks #1,946,842 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Blei vs Bleibe
Shared letters: beil. Private to "Blei": -. Private to "Bleibe": -.
"Blei" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "Bleibe" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Blei" and "Bleibe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Blei" or "Bleibe" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Blei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Bleibe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,946,842 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Blei" and "Bleibe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Blei vs bleu". 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 #1,946,842 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.