Linguee
FreeFree bilingual dictionary showing how phrases appear in professionally translated web content — the gold standard for translator reference research
What is Linguee?
Linguee is a free bilingual dictionary and translation reference service owned by DeepL (the two products were originally built by the same company before DeepL spun out as a standalone translator). Linguee's defining feature is its corpus of hundreds of millions of bilingual sentences extracted from professionally translated web content — EU legal texts, corporate websites published in multiple languages, academic papers, UN documents, and patent filings. When you look up a word or phrase, Linguee returns both a traditional dictionary entry and a long list of real sentences from that corpus showing exactly how the phrase was translated in authoritative, human-produced content. For professional translators, technical writers, and serious language learners, this is the gold standard for understanding how a term is used in context. Linguee supports 25+ language pairs, centered on European languages with particularly strong English-German, English-French, English-Spanish, and English-Portuguese coverage. The service is completely free, with no paid tier or Premium subscription — it is funded by DeepL's commercial products and serves as a lead generator into DeepL Translate and DeepL Pro. Linguee's mobile apps for iOS and Android include offline dictionary downloads. Unlike Reverso, Linguee is not a full machine translator — there is no MT engine, no document translation, no live conversation, no camera mode. It is purely a dictionary and reference corpus. That focus is its strength: if you need to know exactly how economies of scale is typically rendered in German corporate reports, Linguee will show you 40+ real examples from real companies. For any translator working on professional content, Linguee is a daily-use tool and widely considered the best reference dictionary on the internet.
⚡ Quick Verdict
Professional translators, technical writers, and advanced language learners researching how phrases are actually used in authoritative translated content
Users who need a general machine translator, document translation, or rare language coverage — Linguee is dictionary-only
Free forever — no paid tier
Yes — completely free with no ads beyond DeepL product mentions
Best-in-class bilingual example corpus from professionally translated sources
Not a translator — no MT engine, document upload, or live features
Bottom line: Linguee scores 4.5/5 — the best free bilingual dictionary on the internet and an essential daily tool for professional translators. Pair it with DeepL for machine translation and DeepL Pro for full document workflows.
Pricing
Free forever: Full access to the Linguee bilingual dictionary, example sentence corpus, conjugation tables, and mobile apps across 25+ language pairs. Linguee has no paid tier, no ads (beyond DeepL product links), and no usage limits.
Mobile offline dictionaries — Free: Download language pairs in the iOS and Android apps for offline dictionary access.
DeepL integration: Linguee directs users toward DeepL's paid translation products for actual machine translation and document workflows — both Linguee and DeepL are owned by the same company.
Key Features
- Bilingual corpus of hundreds of millions of example sentences
- 25+ European language pairs with strong English-German coverage
- Real examples from EU legal, corporate, and academic sources
- Traditional dictionary with definitions, synonyms, pronunciation
- Verb conjugation tables for major languages
- Offline dictionary downloads in the mobile apps
- Browser extensions for quick phrase lookup
- No ads, no paid tier, no usage limits
- Owned and maintained by DeepL
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Completely free with no ads or usage limits
- Best bilingual corpus on the internet for European languages
- Daily-use tool for professional translators worldwide
- Clean, fast interface focused entirely on reference research
Cons
- Not a machine translator — can only look up terms, not translate full documents
- 25+ language pairs is fewer than competitor dictionaries
- No document upload, conversation mode, or camera translation
FAQ
Is Linguee the same as DeepL?
They are owned by the same company (DeepL GmbH) and were built by the same founders, but they are separate products serving different use cases. Linguee is a bilingual dictionary and example corpus for reference research. DeepL is a neural machine translator for translating full text and documents. The two work well together — translators typically use DeepL for the initial translation and Linguee to research how specific terms or phrases are typically rendered in their target language.
Is Linguee free?
Yes, completely free. Linguee has no paid tier, no usage limits, no ads beyond occasional links to DeepL's products, and no account requirement. It is funded by DeepL GmbH as part of the broader product ecosystem — Linguee drives awareness of DeepL and DeepL Pro, which are the commercial products. This makes Linguee one of the rare truly free, high-quality tools on the internet with no business model pressure on the user.
Can Linguee translate a document?
No. Linguee is strictly a bilingual dictionary and phrase lookup tool, not a machine translator. You cannot upload a document or translate a full paragraph — it only accepts single words and short phrases. For document translation you need DeepL (free web tier) or DeepL Pro. Linguee's role is reference research, not translation.
Why do professional translators love Linguee?
Because it solves a problem that generic MT does not: how is this term actually translated by real humans in published, professional content? When a translator is working on a legal contract and needs to know the standard German rendering of indemnification and hold harmless, Linguee returns dozens of examples from actual bilingual legal documents. That context is impossible to get from a raw MT engine. For any translator working on professional technical content, Linguee is a daily-use reference tool.
Linguee vs Reverso Context — which is better?
They are similar in concept (bilingual example corpus) but differ in focus. Linguee's corpus is considered higher-quality — sourced from EU legal texts, corporate sites, and academic papers — and is preferred by professional translators. Reverso Context has a more diverse corpus including subtitles and news, which makes it better for colloquial and idiomatic phrases. Many translators use both daily: Linguee for professional content, Reverso for everyday language. Reverso also includes a full MT engine and grammar tools that Linguee does not.
How many languages does Linguee support?
25+ language pairs, centered on European languages with particular depth in English-German, English-French, English-Spanish, English-Italian, English-Portuguese, and German-French. Asian and non-European languages have thinner coverage. If you need rare languages, Linguee is not the right tool; if you work with major European pairs, Linguee's corpus is unmatched.
Does Linguee have a mobile app?
Yes, for iOS and Android. The mobile apps support offline dictionary downloads so you can look up phrases without an internet connection, which is useful for travel and classroom use. The apps are free and have the same corpus as the web version. Search is fast and the interface is clean, focused entirely on word and phrase lookup.
📋 Good to know
Visit linguee.com or install the mobile apps. No account required.
Free consumer service without specific deletion guarantees, but search queries are not personally associated with users. GDPR compliant (owned by DeepL GmbH, Germany).
Linguee has no paid tier. For machine translation upgrade path is DeepL (free) or DeepL Pro ($10.49+/mo).
Zero. Type a word or phrase and read the examples. The value comes from using it daily for real research tasks.