liegvsliegenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#34,786
“lieg” frequency rank
#548
“liegen” frequency rank
35334
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lieg liegen
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs liegen eine mehr oder weniger horizontal ausgerichtete Lage einnehmen

Where the eye mixes lieg and liegen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lieg
6 ch
liegen

Look-alike desk: lieg vs liegen

A purely visual mix-up. lieg ([liːk]) and liegen ([ˈliːɡn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “lieg” sits inside “liegen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35334, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lieg is recorded at frequency rank #34,786, classified as averb, pronounced [liːk]. liegen is at rank #548, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈliːɡn̩].

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 35334, this pair ranks #1,642,483 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lieg vs liegen

Shared letters: egil. Private to "lieg": -. Private to "liegen": n.

"lieg" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "liegen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • liegileg · leig · liegg · lige · llieg
  • liegenilegen · leigen · lieegn · liegenn · lieggen · liegne · ligeen · lliegen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lieg" and "liegen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([liːk] versus [ˈliːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lieg" or "liegen"?
"liegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #548 in our German list, against #34,786 for "lieg". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lieg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "liegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,642,483 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lieg" and "liegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs lieg". 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 #1,642,483 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