leerevsliefereTell them apart

Quick tell: leere is a adjective, liefere is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“leere” is an adjective and “liefere” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,286
“leere” frequency rank
#31,158
“liefere” frequency rank
35444
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leere liefere
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs leer 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs liefern

Where the eye mixes leere and liefere

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. leere runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against liefere's 7 (CVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
leere
7 ch
liefere

Visual trap between leere and liefere

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leere is [ˈleːʁə] while liefere is [ˈliːfəʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35444, 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]. liefere is at rank #31,158, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈliːfəʁə].

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 35444, this pair ranks #1,639,849 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of leere vs liefere

Shared letters: elr. Private to "leere": -. Private to "liefere": fi.

"leere" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "liefere" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leereelere · leeer · leerre · leree · lleere
  • liefereilefere · leifere · lieefre · liefeer · lieferre · lieffere · liefree · lifeere

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "leere" and "liefere" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leere" is an adjective and "liefere" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "leere" vs "liefere" - which ranks higher?
"leere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,286 in our German list, against #31,158 for "liefere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "liefere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,639,849 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leere" and "liefere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liefe vs liefere". 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 #1,639,849 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