librevsLippeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#35,891
“libre” frequency rank
#8,416
“Lippe” frequency rank
44307
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature libre Lippe
Definition frei Organ am Rand des Mundes; Teil und Abschluss des Mundes nach außen

Where the eye mixes libre and Lippe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
libre
5 ch
Lippe

Look-alike desk: libre vs Lippe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: libre is [libʁ] while Lippe is [ˈlɪpə]. 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 44307, 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]. Lippe is at rank #8,416, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɪpə].

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 44307, this pair ranks #1,390,471 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of libre vs Lippe

Shared letters: eil. Private to "libre": br. Private to "Lippe": p.

"libre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Lippe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • libreilbre · lbire · libbre · librre · lirbe · llibre
  • Lippeilppe · lipe · lipep · llippe · lpipe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "libre" for "Lippe" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "libre" is an adjective and "Lippe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "libre" or "Lippe"?
"Lippe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,416 in our German list, against #35,891 for "libre". 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 "libre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lippe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,390,471 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "libre" and "Lippe" 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 #1,390,471 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