lebevsLeuteTell them apart

Quick tell: lebe is a verb, Leute is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lebe” is a verb and “Leute” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,905
“lebe” frequency rank
#215
“Leute” frequency rank
3120
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lebe Leute
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs leben eine Gruppe von Personen, Menschen meist unbestimmter, aber auch bestimmter Anzahl

Where the eye mixes lebe and Leute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lebe
5 ch
Leute

Look-alike desk: lebe vs Leute

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lebe is [ˈleːbə] while Leute is [ˈlɔɪ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3120, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lebe is recorded at frequency rank #2,905, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːbə]. Leute is at rank #215, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔɪ̯tə].

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 3120, this pair ranks #2,000,900 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lebe vs Leute

Shared letters: el. Private to "lebe": b. Private to "Leute": tu.

"lebe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Leute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lebelbee · lebbe · leeb · llebe
  • Leuteelute · letue · leuet · leutte · lleute · luete

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lebe" and "Leute" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lebe" is a verb and "Leute" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "lebe" or "Leute" show up more?
"Leute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #215 in our German list, against #2,905 for "lebe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lebe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Leute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,000,900 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lebe" and "Leute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs lebe". 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 #2,000,900 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