lebhaftvslebhafteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,336
“lebhaft” frequency rank
#26,948
“lebhafte” frequency rank
48284
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lebhaft lebhafte
Definition sich angeregt zeigend, voller Interesse und mit der Unterstützung von Mimik und Gestik Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs lebhaft

Where the eye mixes lebhaft and lebhafte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. lebhaft runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against lebhafte's 8 (CVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
lebhaft
8 ch
lebhafte

Visual trap between lebhaft and lebhafte

A purely visual mix-up. lebhaft ([ˈleːphaft]) and lebhafte ([ˈleːphaftə]) 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 extra letter(s) - “lebhaft” sits inside “lebhafte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48284, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lebhaft is recorded at frequency rank #21,336, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈleːphaft]. lebhafte is at rank #26,948, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈleːphaftə].

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 48284, this pair ranks #1,254,211 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lebhaft vs lebhafte

Shared letters: abefhlt. Private to "lebhaft": -. Private to "lebhafte": -.

"lebhaft" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "lebhafte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lebhaft ← elbhaft · lbehaft · lebahft · lebbhaft · lebhafft · lebhaftt · lebhatf · lebhfat
  • lebhafte ← elbhafte · lbehafte · lebahfte · lebbhafte · lebhafet · lebhaffte · lebhaftte · lebhatfe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lebhaft" and "lebhafte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːphaft] versus [ˈleːphaftə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lebhaft" vs "lebhafte" - which ranks higher?
"lebhaft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,336 in our German list, against #26,948 for "lebhafte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "lebhaft" and "lebhafte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lebhaft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lebhafte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,254,211 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lebhaft" and "lebhafte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lebhafte vs lebhafter". 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 #1,254,211 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