BasteivsbasteltTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#47,980
“Bastei” frequency rank
#31,947
“bastelt” frequency rank
79927
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bastei bastelt
Definition vorspringendes Bollwerk an Festungen und Burgen 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs basteln

Where the eye mixes Bastei and bastelt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Bastei runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against bastelt's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Bastei
7 ch
bastelt

Look-alike desk: Bastei vs bastelt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bastei is [basˈtaɪ̯] while bastelt is [ˈbastl̩t]. 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 79927, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bastei is recorded at frequency rank #47,980, classified as anoun, pronounced [basˈtaɪ̯]. bastelt is at rank #31,947, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbastl̩t].

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 79927, this pair ranks #206,136 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Bastei vs bastelt

Shared letters: abest. Private to "Bastei": i. Private to "bastelt": l.

"Bastei" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "bastelt" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bastei ← abstei · baseti · basstei · bastie · basttei · batsei · bbastei · bsatei
  • bastelt ← abstelt · basetlt · basstelt · bastellt · basteltt · bastetl · bastlet · basttelt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Bastei" for "bastelt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Bastei" is a noun and "bastelt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Bastei" vs "bastelt" - which ranks higher?
"bastelt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,947 in our German list, against #47,980 for "Bastei". 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 "Bastei" and "bastelt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bastei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bastelt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #206,136 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bastei" and "bastelt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bastei vs Bastler". 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 #206,136 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