liberal
[libeˈʁaːl]
The verdict
“liberal” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #11,694 in German word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #11,694
- frequency rank, German
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - den Liberalismus betreffend; freiheitsliebend
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | liberal |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [libeˈʁaːl] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #11,694 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “liberal” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for liberal is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [libeˈʁaːl]. Corpus data places it at rank #11,694 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for liberal, with forms such as "ilberal", "lbieral", and "libberal". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "Lineal", "libero", "liberty", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is liberal, spelled L-I-B-E-R-A-L.
Definition
- 1den Liberalismus betreffend; freiheitsliebend
- 2weltanschaulich tolerant; ohne Vorurteile
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ilberal,lbieral,libberal,libearl,liberall,liberla,liberral,libreal,liebral,lliberal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of liberal - 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.
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
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Using “liberal”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is L-I-B-E-R-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [libeˈʁaːl] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Lineal” - see the side-by-side comparison. liberal vs Lineal
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
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.