lebendervslegendärWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#20,654
“lebender” frequency rank
#22,416
“legendär” frequency rank
43070
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lebender legendär
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lebend in der Art einer Legende

Where the eye mixes lebender and legendär

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

8 ch
lebender
8 ch
legendär

Look-alike desk: lebender vs legendär

A purely visual mix-up. lebender ([ˈleːbn̩dɐ]) and legendär ([leɡɛnˈdɛːɐ̯]) 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 43070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lebender is recorded at frequency rank #20,654, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈleːbn̩dɐ]. legendär is at rank #22,416, tagged as anadj, pronounced [leɡɛnˈdɛːɐ̯].

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 43070, this pair ranks #1,429,553 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lebender vs legendär

Shared letters: delnr. Private to "lebender": b. Private to "legendär": .

"lebender" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "legendär" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lebenderelbender · lbeender · lebbender · lebedner · lebendder · lebenderr · lebendre · lebenedr

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lebender" and "legendär" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːbn̩dɐ] versus [leɡɛnˈdɛːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lebender" vs "legendär" - which ranks higher?
"lebender" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,654 in our German list, against #22,416 for "legendär". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lebender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "legendär" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,429,553 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lebender" and "legendär" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "legendär 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 #1,429,553 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