Which to use
“behalte” is a verb and “bemalte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,834
- “behalte” frequency rank
- #40,430
- “bemalte” frequency rank
- 56264
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | behalte | bemalte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs behalten | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs bemalt |
Where the eye mixes behalte and bemalte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between behalte and bemalte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: behalte is [bəˈhaltə] while bemalte is [bəˈmaːltə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - h in “behalte” becomes m in “bemalte”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56264, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
behalte is recorded at frequency rank #15,834, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈhaltə]. bemalte is at rank #40,430, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈmaːltə].
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 56264, this pair ranks #946,999 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of behalte vs bemalte
Shared letters: abelt. Private to "behalte": h. Private to "bemalte": m.
"behalte" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "bemalte" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "behalte" for "bemalte" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "behalte" or "bemalte" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "behalte" and "bemalte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "behalte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bemalte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #946,999 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "behalte" and "bemalte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "behaltet vs bemalte". 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 #946,999 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.