BartelsvsbastelWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Bartels is a noun, bastel is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Bartels” is a noun and “bastel” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,631
“Bartels” frequency rank
#37,982
“bastel” frequency rank
62613
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bartels bastel
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Bartel 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs basteln

Where the eye mixes Bartels and bastel

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Bartels
6 ch
bastel

Why the eye confuses Bartels with bastel

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bartels is [ˈbaʁtl̩s] while bastel is [ˈbastl̩]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62613, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bartels is recorded at frequency rank #24,631, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbaʁtl̩s]. bastel is at rank #37,982, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbastl̩].

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 62613, this pair ranks #706,466 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Bartels vs bastel

Shared letters: abelst. Private to "Bartels": r. Private to "bastel": -.

"Bartels" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "bastel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bartelsabrtels · baretls · barrtels · bartells · bartelss · bartesl · bartles · barttels
  • bastelabstel · basetl · basstel · bastell · bastle · basttel · batsel · bbastel

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Bartels" for "bastel" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Bartels" is a noun and "bastel" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Bartels" or "bastel" show up more?
"Bartels" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,631 in our German list, against #37,982 for "bastel". 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 "Bartels" and "bastel" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bartels" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bastel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #706,466 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bartels" and "bastel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bastei vs bastel". 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 #706,466 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