librevsliveConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#35,891
“libre” frequency rank
#1,015
“live” frequency rank
36906
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature libre live
Definition frei direkt ohne Veränderungen und Verzögerungen (an ein Publikum) wiedergebend

Where the eye mixes libre and live

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

5 ch
libre
4 ch
live

Visual trap between libre and live

A purely visual mix-up. libre ([libʁ]) and live ([laɪ̯f]) 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 36906, 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]. live is at rank #1,015, tagged as anadj, pronounced [laɪ̯f].

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 36906, this pair ranks #1,603,670 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of libre vs live

Shared letters: eil. Private to "libre": br. Private to "live": v.

"libre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "live" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • libreilbre · lbire · libbre · librre · lirbe · llibre
  • liveilve · liev · livve · llive · lvie

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "libre" and "live" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([libʁ] versus [laɪ̯f]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "libre" vs "live" - which ranks higher?
"live" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,015 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.

What to do next

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 "live" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,603,670 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "libre" and "live" 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 #1,603,670 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