leerevslibreWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,286
“leere” frequency rank
#35,891
“libre” frequency rank
40177
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leere libre
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs leer frei

Where the eye mixes leere and libre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
leere
5 ch
libre

Look-alike desk: leere vs libre

A purely visual mix-up. leere ([ˈleːʁə]) and libre ([libʁ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40177, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leere is recorded at frequency rank #4,286, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈleːʁə]. libre is at rank #35,891, tagged as anadj, pronounced [libʁ].

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 40177, this pair ranks #1,515,908 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of leere vs libre

Shared letters: elr. Private to "leere": -. Private to "libre": bi.

"leere" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "libre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leereelere · leeer · leerre · leree · lleere
  • libreilbre · lbire · libbre · librre · lirbe · llibre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "leere" for "libre" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleːʁə] versus [libʁ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "leere" or "libre"?
"leere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,286 in our German list, against #35,891 for "libre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "leere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "libre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,515,908 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leere" and "libre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "libre 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 #1,515,908 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