LinkevslireWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Linke is a noun, lire is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Linke” is a noun and “lire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,185
“Linke” frequency rank
#38,882
“lire” frequency rank
40067
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Linke lire
Definition die links gelegene Hand Schriftzeichen, Worte und Texte wahrnehmen, verarbeiten und verstehen

Where the eye mixes Linke and lire

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Linke
4 ch
lire

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Linke is [ˈlɪŋkə] while lire is [liʁ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40067, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Linke is recorded at frequency rank #1,185, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɪŋkə]. lire is at rank #38,882, tagged as averb, pronounced [liʁ].

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 40067, this pair ranks #1,518,962 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Linke vs lire

Shared letters: eil. Private to "Linke": kn. Private to "lire": r.

"Linke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "lire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Linkeilnke · likne · linek · linkke · linnke · llinke · lnike
  • lireilre · lier · lirre · llire · lrie

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Linke" and "lire" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Linke" is a noun and "lire" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Linke" or "lire"?
"Linke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,185 in our German list, against #38,882 for "lire". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Linke" and "lire". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Linke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,518,962 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Linke" and "lire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs lire". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list