bautenvsbietenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,801
“bauten” frequency rank
#1,317
“bieten” frequency rank
7118
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bauten bieten
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs bauen kundtun, dass man etwas zu leisten bereit ist; etwas zur Verfügung oder in Aussicht stellen, etwas zusichern

Where the eye mixes bauten and bieten

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

6 ch
bauten
6 ch
bieten

Why the eye confuses bauten with bieten

A purely visual mix-up. bauten ([ˈbaʊ̯tn̩]) and bieten ([ˈbiːtn̩]) 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 7118, 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]. bieten is at rank #1,317, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbiːtn̩].

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 7118, this pair ranks #1,989,320 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bauten vs bieten

Shared letters: bent. Private to "bauten": au. Private to "bieten": i.

"bauten" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "bieten" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bautenabuten · batuen · bauetn · bautenn · bautne · bautten · bbauten · buaten
  • bietenbbieten · beiten · bieetn · bietenn · bietne · bietten · biteen · ibeten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bauten" and "bieten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbaʊ̯tn̩] versus [ˈbiːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bauten" vs "bieten" - which ranks higher?
"bieten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,317 in our German list, against #5,801 for "bauten". 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 "bieten" 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 "bieten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,989,320 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bauten" and "bieten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bauten vs Blusen". 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 #1,989,320 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