Which to use
“baue” is a verb and “blau” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,670
- “baue” frequency rank
- #1,871
- “blau” frequency rank
- 14541
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | baue | blau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bauen | eine bunte Farbe, im Spektrum eine relativ kurzwellige Farbe zwischen grün und violett; Grundfarbe vieler Farbmodelle, insbesondere eine der drei Grundfarben des digitalen RGB-Farbraums |
Where the eye mixes baue and blau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses baue with blau
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: baue is [ˈbaʊ̯ə] while blau is [blaʊ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14541, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
baue is recorded at frequency rank #12,670, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbaʊ̯ə]. blau is at rank #1,871, tagged as anadj, pronounced [blaʊ̯].
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 14541, this pair ranks #1,950,479 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of baue vs blau
Shared letters: abu. Private to "baue": e. Private to "blau": l.
"baue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "blau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "baue" and "blau" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "baue" or "blau"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "baue" and "blau" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "baue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,950,479 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "baue" and "blau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baue vs Bauers". 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 #1,950,479 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.