liebstvsliegstWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,237
“liebst” frequency rank
#14,624
“liegst” frequency rank
23861
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature liebst liegst
Definition 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lieben 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs liegen

Where the eye mixes liebst and liegst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. liebst and liegst follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
liebst
6 ch
liegst

Visual trap between liebst and liegst

A purely visual mix-up. liebst ([liːpst]) and liegst ([liːkst]) 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 a single letter - b in “liebst” becomes g in “liegst”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

liebst is recorded at frequency rank #9,237, classified as averb, pronounced [liːpst]. liegst is at rank #14,624, tagged as averb, pronounced [liːkst].

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 23861, this pair ranks #1,855,625 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of liebst vs liegst

Shared letters: eilst. Private to "liebst": b. Private to "liegst": g.

"liebst" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC  ·  "liegst" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • liebst ← ilebst · leibst · libest · liebbst · liebsst · liebstt · liebts · liesbt
  • liegst ← ilegst · leigst · lieggst · liegsst · liegstt · liegts · liesgt · ligest

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "liebst" for "liegst" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([liːpst] versus [liːkst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "liebst" or "liegst"?
"liebst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,237 in our German list, against #14,624 for "liegst". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "liebst" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "liegst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,855,625 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "liebst" and "liegst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Legat vs liegst". 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 #1,855,625 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