LesbevsLiebeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,511
“Lesbe” frequency rank
#309
“Liebe” frequency rank
39820
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lesbe Liebe
Definition Frau, die homosexuelle Neigungen besitzt, lesbisch ist inniges Gefühl der Zuneigung für jemanden oder für etwas

Where the eye mixes Lesbe and Liebe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Lesbe
5 ch
Liebe

Visual trap between Lesbe and Liebe

A purely visual mix-up. Lesbe ([ˈlɛsbə]) and Liebe ([ˈliːbə]) 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 39820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lesbe is recorded at frequency rank #39,511, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛsbə]. Liebe is at rank #309, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈliːbə].

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 39820, this pair ranks #1,525,976 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lesbe vs Liebe

Shared letters: bel. Private to "Lesbe": s. Private to "Liebe": i.

"Lesbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Liebe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lesbeelsbe · lebse · lesbbe · leseb · lessbe · llesbe · lsebe
  • Liebeilebe · libee · liebbe · lieeb · lliebe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Lesbe" and "Liebe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlɛsbə] versus [ˈliːbə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Lesbe" or "Liebe"?
"Liebe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #309 in our German list, against #39,511 for "Lesbe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lesbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Liebe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,525,976 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lesbe" and "Liebe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Leibes vs Lesbe". 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 #1,525,976 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