Which to use
“bald” is an adverb and “baue” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #417
- “bald” frequency rank
- #12,670
- “baue” frequency rank
- 13087
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bald | baue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | kurze Zeit danach | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bauen |
Where the eye mixes bald and baue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. bald (CVCC) and baue (CVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses bald with baue
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bald is [balt] while baue is [ˈbaʊ̯ə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13087, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bald is recorded at frequency rank #417, classified as anadv, pronounced [balt]. baue is at rank #12,670, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbaʊ̯ə].
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 13087, this pair ranks #1,960,215 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bald vs baue
Shared letters: ab. Private to "bald": dl. Private to "baue": eu.
"bald" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "baue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bald" and "baue" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "bald" or "baue" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bald" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "baue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,960,215 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bald" and "baue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baue vs Bauers". 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
Confusion rank #1,960,215 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.