Which to use
“liefern” and “lieferte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,455
- “liefern” frequency rank
- #7,501
- “lieferte” frequency rank
- 9956
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | liefern | lieferte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ware zum Käufer transportieren | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs liefern |
Where the eye mixes liefern and lieferte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. liefern runs 7 letters (CVVCVCC) against lieferte's 8 (CVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses liefern with lieferte
A purely visual mix-up. liefern ([ˈliːfɐn]) 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 9956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
liefern is recorded at frequency rank #2,455, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈliːfɐn]. 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 9956, this pair ranks #1,977,471 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of liefern vs lieferte
Shared letters: efilr. Private to "liefern": n. Private to "lieferte": t.
"liefern" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "lieferte" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "liefern" and "lieferte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "liefern" vs "lieferte" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "liefern" and "lieferte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "liefern" 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 #1,977,471 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "liefern" and "lieferte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Läufern vs liefern". 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 #1,977,471 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.