Which to use
“lebender” is an adjective and “Legende” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,654
- “lebender” frequency rank
- #4,287
- “Legende” frequency rank
- 24941
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lebender | Legende |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lebend | Erzählung über Begebenheiten, Leben und Tod von Personen, in erhöhender Weise – ähnlich der Sage oder dem Mythos |
Where the eye mixes lebender and Legende
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. lebender runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against Legende's 7 (CVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses lebender with Legende
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lebender is [ˈleːbn̩dɐ] while Legende is [leˈɡɛndə]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24941, 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]. Legende is at rank #4,287, tagged as anoun, pronounced [leˈɡɛndə].
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 24941, this pair ranks #1,840,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lebender vs Legende
Shared letters: deln. Private to "lebender": br. Private to "Legende": g.
"lebender" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "Legende" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lebender" and "Legende" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "lebender" or "Legende" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "lebender" and "Legende" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lebender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Legende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,840,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lebender" and "Legende" 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 #1,840,418 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.