lilievsLilithWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,879
“lilie” frequency rank
#46,813
“Lilith” frequency rank
85692
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lilie Lilith
Definition hohe Pflanze mit stark duftenden, glockenförmigen Blüten; Lilie weiblicher Dämon sumerischer Herkunft

Where the eye mixes lilie and Lilith

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lilie runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against Lilith's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
lilie
6 ch
Lilith

Visual trap between lilie and Lilith

A purely visual mix-up. lilie ([ˈlɪlɪjɛ]) and Lilith ([ˈliːlɪt]) 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 85692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lilie is recorded at frequency rank #38,879, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɪlɪjɛ]. Lilith is at rank #46,813, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈliːlɪt].

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 85692, this pair ranks #104,477 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lilie vs Lilith

Shared letters: il. Private to "lilie": e. Private to "Lilith": ht.

"lilie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "Lilith" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lilie ← illie · liile · lilei · lillie · lliie · llilie
  • Lilith ← illith · liilth · liliht · lilithh · lilitth · lillith · liltih · lliith

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lilie" and "Lilith" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlɪlɪjɛ] versus [ˈliːlɪt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "lilie" or "Lilith" show up more?
"lilie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,879 in our German list, against #46,813 for "Lilith". 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 "lilie" and "Lilith" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lilie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lilith" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #104,477 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lilie" and "Lilith" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lilith vs lolita". 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 #104,477 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