beenvsbeulenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,246
“been” frequency rank
#43,061
“beulen” frequency rank
57307
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature been beulen
Definition Past Participle des Verbs be sich zu einer Beule entwickeln

Where the eye mixes been and beulen

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

4 ch
been
6 ch
beulen

Look-alike desk: been vs beulen

A purely visual mix-up. been ([bɪn]) and beulen ([ˈbɔɪ̯lən]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57307, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

been is recorded at frequency rank #14,246, classified as averb, pronounced [bɪn]. beulen is at rank #43,061, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbɔɪ̯lən].

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 57307, this pair ranks #906,379 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of been vs beulen

Shared letters: ben. Private to "been": -. Private to "beulen": lu.

"been" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "beulen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beenbbeen · beenn · ben
  • beulenbbeulen · beluen · beueln · beulenn · beullen · beulne · buelen · ebulen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "been" and "beulen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bɪn] versus [ˈbɔɪ̯lən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "been" vs "beulen" - which ranks higher?
"been" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,246 in our German list, against #43,061 for "beulen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "been" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beulen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #906,379 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "been" and "beulen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beulen 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 #906,379 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