lieferevslieferteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,158
“liefere” frequency rank
#7,501
“lieferte” frequency rank
38659
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature liefere lieferte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs liefern 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs liefern

Where the eye mixes liefere and lieferte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
liefere
8 ch
lieferte

Why the eye confuses liefere with lieferte

A purely visual mix-up. liefere ([ˈliːfəʁə]) and lieferte ([ˈliːfɐtə]) 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 38659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

liefere is recorded at frequency rank #31,158, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈliːfəʁə]. lieferte is at rank #7,501, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈliːfɐtə].

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 38659, this pair ranks #1,558,071 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of liefere vs lieferte

Shared letters: efilr. Private to "liefere": -. Private to "lieferte": t.

"liefere" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "lieferte" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • liefereilefere · leifere · lieefre · liefeer · lieferre · lieffere · liefree · lifeere
  • lieferteileferte · leiferte · lieefrte · lieferet · lieferrte · liefertte · liefetre · liefferte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "liefere" for "lieferte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈliːfəʁə] versus [ˈliːfɐtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "liefere" vs "lieferte" - which ranks higher?
"lieferte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,501 in our German list, against #31,158 for "liefere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "liefere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lieferte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,558,071 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "liefere" and "lieferte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liefe vs liefere". 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 #1,558,071 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