Blei

[blaɪ̯]

/[blaɪ̯]/ noun

The verdict

“Blei” has 5 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #11,614. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#11,614
frequency rank, German
5,818
“B” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - silbernes, leicht verformbares, toxisch wirkendes Metall

Corpus desk

Index DE-blei · Blei · German

Blei · rank #11,614 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,614
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,818
  • PHOTO-FINISH bestände

Nearest frequency peer: bestände (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “Blei”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “Blei” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Blei vs bye
25% similar
Blei vs blu
25% similar
Blei vs BMI
25% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Blei
PropertyValue
HeadwordBlei
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[blaɪ̯]
Letters4
Frequency rank#11,614
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Wo “Blei” in der deutschen Häufigkeit sitzt

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.Bleiliegt hier:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). In derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite liegen „bestände“ (#11,613), „blickte“ (#11,615), „besoffen“ (#11,612). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around Blei (IPA [blaɪ̯]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #11,614 among 5,818 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for Blei, with forms such as "bblei", "beli", and "blie". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bye", "blu", "BMI", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is Blei, spelled B-L-E-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    silbernes, leicht verformbares, toxisch wirkendes Metall
  2. 2
    Geschoss oder Geschosse von Handfeuerwaffen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Blei appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. „Mehr als das Blei in der Flinte hat das Blei im Setzkasten die Welt verändert.“
  2. „Im Gegensatz zu früheren Zeiten, als Blei eines der wichtigsten und meistverwendeten Metalle war, versucht man heute, Blei durch andere, ungiftige Elemente oder Legierungen zu ersetzen.“

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bblei
  • beli
  • blie
  • bllei
  • lbei

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Blei - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

bblei1beli2blie2bllei1lbei2
Edit distance from "Blei"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Blei"?
"Blei" is spelled B-L-E-I. The IPA pronunciation is [blaɪ̯].
What does "Blei" mean?
As a noun, "Blei" means: silbernes, leicht verformbares, toxisch wirkendes Metall
What words are commonly confused with "Blei"?
"Blei" is commonly confused with "bye", "blu", "BMI". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Blei"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Blei" is [blaɪ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Blei" come from?
"Blei" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Blei", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

What to do next

You've looked up "Blei". Here's where to go from here.

  • "Blei" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "bye". View pair
  • 5 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #11,614 among German headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more German words in the "B" letter cohort. B–Z browse

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

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list