Leben vs leve, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Leben” is a noun and “leve” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,556
“Leben” frequency rank: #1,245
“leve” frequency rank: 50801
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Leben	leve
Definition	vida.	que tem pouco peso

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Leben and leve apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

Leben

4 ch

leve

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Leben is /ˈleːbn̩, ˈleːbm̩/ while leve is /ˈlɛ.vɨ/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50801, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Leben is recorded at frequency rank #49,556, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈleːbn̩, ˈleːbm̩/. leve is at rank #1,245, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈlɛ.vɨ/.

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 50801, this pair ranks #14,151 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Leben vs leve

Shared letters: el. Private to "Leben": bn. Private to "leve": v.

"Leben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "leve" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

Leben ← elben · lbeen · lebben · lebenn · lebne · leebn · lleben
leve ← elve · leev · levve · lleve · lvee

Frequency comparison

Leben#49,556

leve#1,245

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Leben" and "leve" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Leben" is a noun and "leve" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Leben" or "leve"?

"leve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,245 in our Portuguese list, against #49,556 for "Leben". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Leben vs leve

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Leben”; for an adjective, it's “leve”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Leben” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable