lilievsliteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#38,879
“lilie” frequency rank
#27,828
“lite” frequency rank
66707
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lilie lite
Definition hohe Pflanze mit stark duftenden, glockenförmigen Blüten; Lilie der Streit, der Zank

Letter map: lilie vs lite

Shared letters muted; letters that set lilie and lite apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. lilie runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against lite's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
lilie
4 ch
lite

Corpus notes: lilie and lite

lilie and lite are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66707, 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]. lite is at rank #27,828, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 66707, this pair ranks #564,205 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lilie vs lite

Shared letters: eil. Private to "lilie": -. Private to "lite": t.

"lilie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "lite" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lilie ← illie · liile · lilei · lillie · lliie · llilie
  • lite ← ilte · liet · litte · llite · ltie

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lilie" and "lite" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "lilie" or "lite" show up more?
"lite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,828 in our German list, against #38,879 for "lilie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "lilie" vs "lite" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lilie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #564,205 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lilie" and "lite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lilie vs Lilith". 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 #564,205 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