librevsLiebeTell them apart

Quick tell: libre is a adjective, Liebe is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“libre” is an adjective and “Liebe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,891
“libre” frequency rank
#309
“Liebe” frequency rank
36200
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature libre Liebe
Definition frei inniges Gefühl der Zuneigung für jemanden oder für etwas

Where the eye mixes libre and Liebe

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

5 ch
libre
5 ch
Liebe

Look-alike desk: libre vs Liebe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: libre is [libʁ] while Liebe is [ˈliːbə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36200, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

libre is recorded at frequency rank #35,891, classified as anadj, pronounced [libʁ]. 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 36200, this pair ranks #1,621,552 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of libre vs Liebe

Shared letters: beil. Private to "libre": r. Private to "Liebe": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • libreilbre · lbire · libbre · librre · lirbe · llibre
  • Liebeilebe · libee · liebbe · lieeb · lliebe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "libre" and "Liebe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "libre" is an adjective and "Liebe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "libre" or "Liebe" show up more?
"Liebe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #309 in our German list, against #35,891 for "libre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "libre" 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 #1,621,552 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "libre" and "Liebe" 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 #1,621,552 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