lebtevsLemkeTell them apart

Quick tell: lebte is a verb, Lemke is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lebte” is a verb and “Lemke” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,756
“lebte” frequency rank
#35,888
“Lemke” frequency rank
39644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lebte Lemke
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs leben deutschsprachiger Nachname, Familienname

Letter map: lebte vs Lemke

Shared letters muted; letters that set lebte and Lemke apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
lebte
5 ch
Lemke

Role in the sentence - lebte and Lemke

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lebte is averb and Lemkeaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39644, 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]. Lemke is at rank #35,888, tagged as aname, pronounced […].

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 39644, this pair ranks #1,530,949 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lebte vs Lemke

Shared letters: el. Private to "lebte": bt. Private to "Lemke": km.

"lebte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Lemke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lebteelbte · lbete · lebbte · lebet · lebtte · letbe · llebte
  • Lemkeelmke · lekme · lemek · lemkke · lemmke · llemke · lmeke

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lebte" for "Lemke" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lebte" is a verb and "Lemke" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "lebte" vs "Lemke" - which ranks higher?
"lebte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,756 in our German list, against #35,888 for "Lemke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "lebte" and "Lemke". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lebte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lemke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,530,949 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lebte" and "Lemke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lemke vs puzzles". 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 #1,530,949 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