Which to use
“lebte” and “legte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,756
- “lebte” frequency rank
- #1,977
- “legte” frequency rank
- 5733
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lebte | legte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs leben | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs legen |
Where the eye mixes lebte and legte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lebte vs legte
A purely visual mix-up. lebte ([ˈleːptə]) and legte ([ˈleːktə]) 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 a single letter - b in “lebte” becomes g in “legte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5733, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lebte is recorded at frequency rank #3,756, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːptə]. legte is at rank #1,977, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈleːktə].
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 5733, this pair ranks #1,993,897 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lebte vs legte
Shared letters: elt. Private to "lebte": b. Private to "legte": g.
"lebte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "legte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lebte" and "legte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "lebte" or "legte" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "lebte" and "legte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lebte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "legte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,993,897 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lebte" and "legte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lebte vs Lübke". 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 #1,993,897 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.