lebendvslebenderTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,617
“lebend” frequency rank
#20,654
“lebender” frequency rank
35271
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lebend lebender
Definition nicht tot; am Leben; lebendig Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lebend

Where the eye mixes lebend and lebender

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
lebend
8 ch
lebender

Visual trap between lebend and lebender

A purely visual mix-up. lebend ([ˈleːbn̩t]) and lebender ([ˈleːbn̩dɐ]) 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) - “lebend” sits inside “lebender”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lebend is recorded at frequency rank #14,617, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈleːbn̩t]. lebender is at rank #20,654, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈleːbn̩dɐ].

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 35271, this pair ranks #1,643,885 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lebend vs lebender

Shared letters: bdeln. Private to "lebend": -. Private to "lebender": r.

"lebend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "lebender" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lebendelbend · lbeend · lebbend · lebedn · lebendd · lebennd · lebned · leebnd
  • lebenderelbender · lbeender · lebbender · lebedner · lebendder · lebenderr · lebendre · lebenedr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lebend" for "lebender" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːbn̩t] versus [ˈleːbn̩dɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "lebend" or "lebender" show up more?
"lebend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,617 in our German list, against #20,654 for "lebender". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lebend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lebender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,643,885 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lebend" and "lebender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lebender vs liegender". 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 #1,643,885 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