lebendervsliegenderConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#20,654
“lebender” frequency rank
#45,429
“liegender” frequency rank
66083
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lebender liegender
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lebend Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs liegend

Where the eye mixes lebender and liegender

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
lebender
9 ch
liegender

Visual trap between lebender and liegender

A purely visual mix-up. lebender ([ˈleːbn̩dɐ]) and liegender ([ˈliːɡn̩dɐ]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66083, 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]. liegender is at rank #45,429, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈliːɡn̩dɐ].

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 66083, this pair ranks #585,153 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lebender vs liegender

Shared letters: delnr. Private to "lebender": b. Private to "liegender": gi.

"lebender" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "liegender" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lebenderelbender · lbeender · lebbender · lebedner · lebendder · lebenderr · lebendre · lebenedr
  • liegenderilegender · leigender · lieegnder · liegedner · liegendder · liegenderr · liegendre · liegenedr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lebender" for "liegender" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːbn̩dɐ] versus [ˈliːɡn̩dɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "lebender" or "liegender" show up more?
"lebender" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,654 in our German list, against #45,429 for "liegender". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lebender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "liegender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #585,153 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lebender" and "liegender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Liebende 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 #585,153 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