bautenvsbetenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,801
“bauten” frequency rank
#7,017
“beten” frequency rank
12818
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bauten beten
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs bauen Gott anrufen, zu Gott sprechen

Where the eye mixes bauten and beten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bauten runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against beten's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
bauten
5 ch
beten

Visual trap between bauten and beten

A purely visual mix-up. bauten ([ˈbaʊ̯tn̩]) and beten ([ˈbeːtn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12818, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bauten is recorded at frequency rank #5,801, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbaʊ̯tn̩]. beten is at rank #7,017, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbeːtn̩].

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 12818, this pair ranks #1,961,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bauten vs beten

Shared letters: bent. Private to "bauten": au. Private to "beten": -.

"bauten" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "beten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bauten ← abuten · batuen · bauetn · bautenn · bautne · bautten · bbauten · buaten
  • beten ← bbeten · beetn · betenn · betne · bteen · ebten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bauten" and "beten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbaʊ̯tn̩] versus [ˈbeːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bauten" or "beten"?
"bauten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,801 in our German list, against #7,017 for "beten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bauten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,961,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bauten" and "beten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bestien vs beten". 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 #1,961,865 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