BeckensvsbückenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Beckens is a noun, bücken is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Beckens” is a noun and “bücken” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,087
“Beckens” frequency rank
#32,980
“bücken” frequency rank
61067
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Beckens bücken
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Becken den Oberkörper tief in Richtung Boden beugen

Where the eye mixes Beckens and bücken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Beckens runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against bücken's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Beckens
6 ch
bücken

Look-alike desk: Beckens vs bücken

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Beckens is [ˈbɛkn̩s] while bücken is [ˈbʏkn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61067, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Beckens is recorded at frequency rank #28,087, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɛkn̩s]. bücken is at rank #32,980, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbʏkn̩].

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 61067, this pair ranks #763,520 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Beckens vs bücken

Shared letters: bcekn. Private to "Beckens": s. Private to "bücken": ü.

"Beckens" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "bücken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Beckensbbeckens · bcekens · becckens · becekns · beckenns · beckenss · beckesn · beckkens

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Beckens" for "bücken" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Beckens" is a noun and "bücken" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Beckens" or "bücken" show up more?
"Beckens" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,087 in our German list, against #32,980 for "bücken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Beckens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bücken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #763,520 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Beckens" and "bücken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bücken vs bucket". 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 #763,520 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