bebautenvsbelaufenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,156
“bebauten” frequency rank
#23,439
“belaufen” frequency rank
68595
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bebauten belaufen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs bebaut von Menschen zu Fuß genutzt

Where the eye mixes bebauten and belaufen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. bebauten and belaufen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
bebauten
8 ch
belaufen

Why the eye confuses bebauten with belaufen

A purely visual mix-up. bebauten ([bəˈbaʊ̯tn̩]) and belaufen ([bəˈlaʊ̯fn̩]) 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 68595, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bebauten is recorded at frequency rank #45,156, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈbaʊ̯tn̩]. belaufen is at rank #23,439, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈlaʊ̯fn̩].

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 68595, this pair ranks #502,852 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bebauten vs belaufen

Shared letters: abenu. Private to "bebauten": t. Private to "belaufen": fl.

"bebauten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "belaufen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bebautenbbeauten · bbebauten · beabuten · bebatuen · bebauetn · bebautenn · bebautne · bebautten
  • belaufenbbelaufen · bealufen · belafuen · belauefn · belaufenn · belauffen · belaufne · bellaufen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bebauten" for "belaufen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈbaʊ̯tn̩] versus [bəˈlaʊ̯fn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "bebauten" or "belaufen" show up more?
"belaufen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,439 in our German list, against #45,156 for "bebauten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bebauten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "belaufen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #502,852 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bebauten" and "belaufen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bebauten vs betäuben". 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 #502,852 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