BasteivsbatesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#47,980
“Bastei” frequency rank
#34,536
“bates” frequency rank
82516
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bastei bates
Definition vorspringendes Bollwerk an Festungen und Burgen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bate

Letter map: Bastei vs bates

Shared letters muted; letters that set Bastei and bates apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
Bastei
5 ch
bates

Role in the sentence - Bastei and bates

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Bastei is anoun and batesaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82516, 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]. bates is at rank #34,536, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 82516, this pair ranks #155,832 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Bastei vs bates

Shared letters: abest. Private to "Bastei": i. Private to "bates": -.

"Bastei" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "bates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Basteiabstei · baseti · basstei · bastie · basttei · batsei · bbastei · bsatei
  • batesbatess · batse · battes · bbates · btaes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Bastei" and "bates" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Bastei" is a noun and "bates" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Bastei" or "bates" show up more?
"bates" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,536 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.

What to do next

Pair "Bastei" vs "bates" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bastei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,832 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bastei" and "bates" 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 #155,832 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