Which to use
“liber” is a noun and “libre” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,181
- “liber” frequency rank
- #35,891
- “libre” frequency rank
- 66072
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | liber | libre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pflanzliches Fasergewebe, Bast | frei |
Where the eye mixes liber and libre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. liber (CVCVC) and libre (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: liber vs libre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: liber is [li.bɛʁ] while libre is [libʁ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (er ↔ re) - a transposition the eye reads straight past, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
liber is recorded at frequency rank #30,181, classified as anoun, pronounced [li.bɛʁ]. 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 66072, this pair ranks #585,533 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of liber vs libre
Shared letters: beilr. Private to "liber": -. Private to "libre": -.
"liber" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "libre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "liber" and "libre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "liber" or "libre" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "liber" 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 #585,533 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "liber" 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 #585,533 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.