Which to use
“Ballast” is a noun and “ballert” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,455
- “Ballast” frequency rank
- #43,740
- “ballert” frequency rank
- 69195
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Ballast | ballert |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Stoff oder Bauteil, das für seine Größe vergleichsweise schwer ist und zur Stabilisierung des Objektes, auf welchem es geladen ist (zum Beispiel auf Schiffen, Ballonen, U-Booten und anderen Tauchfahrzeugen) dient | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs ballern |
Where the eye mixes Ballast and ballert
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between Ballast and ballert
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ballast is [ˈbalast] while ballert is [ˈbalɐt]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69195, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Ballast is recorded at frequency rank #25,455, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbalast]. ballert is at rank #43,740, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbalɐt].
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 69195, this pair ranks #484,078 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Ballast vs ballert
Shared letters: ablt. Private to "Ballast": s. Private to "ballert": er.
"Ballast" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "ballert" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Ballast" and "ballert" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "Ballast" vs "ballert" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Ballast" and "ballert" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Ballast" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ballert" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #484,078 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Ballast" and "ballert" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ballert vs ballet". 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 #484,078 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.