LeibvslisWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,732
“Leib” frequency rank
#38,263
“lis” frequency rank
43995
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Leib lis
Definition lebendiger Körper von Mensch oder Tier Stieleiche

Where the eye mixes Leib and lis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Leib
3 ch
lis

Visual trap between Leib and lis

A purely visual mix-up. Leib ([laɪ̯p]) and lis ([lis]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Leib is recorded at frequency rank #5,732, classified as anoun, pronounced [laɪ̯p]. lis is at rank #38,263, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lis].

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 43995, this pair ranks #1,400,460 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Leib vs lis

Shared letters: il. Private to "Leib": be. Private to "lis": s.

"Leib" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "lis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Leibelib · lebi · leibb · lleib

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Leib" and "lis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([laɪ̯p] versus [lis]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Leib" or "lis"?
"Leib" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,732 in our German list, against #38,263 for "lis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Leib" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,400,460 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Leib" and "lis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs lis". 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 #1,400,460 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