ladevslireWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“lade” and “lire” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,399
“lade” frequency rank
#38,882
“lire” frequency rank
48281
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lade lire
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs laden Schriftzeichen, Worte und Texte wahrnehmen, verarbeiten und verstehen

Where the eye mixes lade and lire

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lade
4 ch
lire

Look-alike desk: lade vs lire

A purely visual mix-up. lade ([ˈlaːdə]) and lire ([liʁ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48281, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lade is recorded at frequency rank #9,399, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaːdə]. lire is at rank #38,882, tagged as averb, pronounced [liʁ].

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 48281, this pair ranks #1,254,322 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lade vs lire

Shared letters: el. Private to "lade": ad. Private to "lire": ir.

"lade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ladealde · ladde · laed · ldae · llade
  • lireilre · lier · lirre · llire · lrie

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lade" and "lire" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaːdə] versus [liʁ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "lade" or "lire" show up more?
"lade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,399 in our German list, against #38,882 for "lire". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,254,322 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lade" and "lire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs lire". 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 #1,254,322 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list