liebstevsliebstesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,474
“liebste” frequency rank
#35,301
“liebstes” frequency rank
46775
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature liebste liebstes
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Superlativs des Adjektivs lieb Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Superlativs des Adjektivs lieb

Where the eye mixes liebste and liebstes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. liebste runs 7 letters (CVVCCCV) against liebstes's 8 (CVVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
liebste
8 ch
liebstes

Visual trap between liebste and liebstes

A purely visual mix-up. liebste ([ˈliːpstə]) and liebstes ([ˈliːpstəs]) 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 extra letter(s) - “liebste” sits inside “liebstes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

liebste is recorded at frequency rank #11,474, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈliːpstə]. liebstes is at rank #35,301, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈliːpstəs].

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 46775, this pair ranks #1,307,429 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of liebste vs liebstes

Shared letters: beilst. Private to "liebste": -. Private to "liebstes": -.

"liebste" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV  ·  "liebstes" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • liebste ← ilebste · leibste · libeste · liebbste · liebset · liebsste · liebstte · liebtse
  • liebstes ← ilebstes · leibstes · libestes · liebbstes · liebsets · liebsstes · liebstess · liebstse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "liebste" for "liebstes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈliːpstə] versus [ˈliːpstəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "liebste" or "liebstes" show up more?
"liebste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,474 in our German list, against #35,301 for "liebstes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "liebste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "liebstes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,307,429 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "liebste" and "liebstes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liebstes vs liebten". 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 #1,307,429 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