BeckenvsBettenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,040
“Becken” frequency rank
#7,297
“Betten” frequency rank
13337
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Becken Betten
Definition derjenige Körperabschnitt, der unterhalb des Bauchs und oberhalb der Beine gelegen ist Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Bett

Where the eye mixes Becken and Betten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Becken and Betten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Becken
6 ch
Betten

Look-alike desk: Becken vs Betten

A purely visual mix-up. Becken ([ˈbɛkn̩]) and Betten ([ˈbɛtn̩]) 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 13337, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Becken is recorded at frequency rank #6,040, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɛkn̩]. Betten is at rank #7,297, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɛtn̩].

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 13337, this pair ranks #1,958,631 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Becken vs Betten

Shared letters: ben. Private to "Becken": ck. Private to "Betten": t.

"Becken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Betten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Becken ← bbecken · bceken · beccken · becekn · beckenn · beckken · beckne · bekcen
  • Betten ← bbetten · betetn · bettenn · bettne · bteten · ebtten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Becken" for "Betten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbɛkn̩] versus [ˈbɛtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Becken" or "Betten" show up more?
"Becken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,040 in our German list, against #7,297 for "Betten". 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 "Becken" and "Betten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Becken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Betten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,958,631 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Becken" and "Betten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bestien vs Betten". 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 #1,958,631 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