bauevsblauemConfusable pair

Quick tell: baue is a verb, blauem is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“baue” is a verb and “blauem” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,670
“baue” frequency rank
#21,912
“blauem” frequency rank
34582
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baue blauem
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bauen Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs blau

Where the eye mixes baue and blauem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
baue
6 ch
blauem

Visual trap between baue and blauem

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: baue is [ˈbaʊ̯ə] while blauem is [ˈblaʊ̯əm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34582, 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]. blauem is at rank #21,912, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈblaʊ̯əm].

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 34582, this pair ranks #1,659,975 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of baue vs blauem

Shared letters: abeu. Private to "baue": -. Private to "blauem": lm.

"baue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "blauem" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baueabue · baeu · bbaue · buae
  • blauembaluem · bblauem · blaeum · blauemm · blaume · bllauem · bluaem · lbauem

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "baue" for "blauem" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "baue" is a verb and "blauem" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "baue" or "blauem"?
"baue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,670 in our German list, against #21,912 for "blauem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "baue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "blauem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,659,975 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baue" and "blauem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blauem vs braunem". 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 #1,659,975 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