BärenvsBaseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Bären” and “Base” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,531
“Bären” frequency rank
#9,509
“Base” frequency rank
18040
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bären Base
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Bär eine alkalisch reagierende chemische Verbindung, deren pH-Wert über 7 liegt; nimmt leicht Protonen (H⁺) auf

Where the eye mixes Bären and Base

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Bären
4 ch
Base

Look-alike desk: Bären vs Base

A purely visual mix-up. Bären ([ˈbɛːʁən]) and Base ([ˈbaːzə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18040, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bären is recorded at frequency rank #8,531, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɛːʁən]. Base is at rank #9,509, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbaːzə].

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 18040, this pair ranks #1,921,986 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bären vs Base

Shared letters: be. Private to "Bären": nrä. Private to "Base": as.

"Bären" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Base" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Baseabse · baes · basse · bbase · bsae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Bären" and "Base" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbɛːʁən] versus [ˈbaːzə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Bären" vs "Base" - which ranks higher?
"Bären" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,531 in our German list, against #9,509 for "Base". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Bären" and "Base" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bären" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Base" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,921,986 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bären" and "Base" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Base vs BfS". 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 #1,921,986 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list