bautevsbieteTell them apart

Which to use

“baute” and “biete” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,873
“baute” frequency rank
#5,572
“biete” frequency rank
13445
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baute biete
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs bauen 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bieten

Where the eye mixes baute and biete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. baute and biete follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
baute
5 ch
biete

Visual trap between baute and biete

A purely visual mix-up. baute ([ˈbaʊ̯tə]) and biete ([ˈbiːtə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13445, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

baute is recorded at frequency rank #7,873, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbaʊ̯tə]. biete is at rank #5,572, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbiːtə].

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 13445, this pair ranks #1,957,953 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of baute vs biete

Shared letters: bet. Private to "baute": au. Private to "biete": i.

"baute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "biete" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baute ← abute · batue · bauet · bautte · bbaute · buate
  • biete ← bbiete · beite · bieet · bitee · ibete

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "baute" and "biete" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbaʊ̯tə] versus [ˈbiːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "baute" or "biete"?
"biete" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,572 in our German list, against #7,873 for "baute". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "baute" and "biete" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "baute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "biete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,957,953 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baute" and "biete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bastei vs baute". 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 #1,957,953 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