behalten vs bemalte, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“behalten” is a verb and “bemalte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,017
“behalten” frequency rank: #40,430
“bemalte” frequency rank: 42447
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	behalten	bemalte
Definition	im Besitz einer Sache bleiben	Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs bemalt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set behalten and bemalte apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

behalten

7 ch

bemalte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: behalten is [bəˈhaltn̩] while bemalte is [bəˈmaːltə]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

behalten is recorded at frequency rank #2,017, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈhaltn̩]. 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 42447, this pair ranks #1,449,003 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of behalten vs bemalte

Shared letters: abelt. Private to "behalten": hn. Private to "bemalte": m.

"behalten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "bemalte" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

behalten ← bbehalten · beahlten · behaletn · behallten · behaltenn · behaltne · behaltten · behatlen
bemalte ← bbemalte · beamlte · bemalet · bemallte · bemaltte · bematle · bemlate · bemmalte

Frequency comparison

behalten#2,017

bemalte#40,430

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "behalten" and "bemalte" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "behalten" is a verb and "bemalte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "behalten" or "bemalte"?

"behalten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,017 in our German list, against #40,430 for "bemalte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering behalten vs bemalte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “behalten”; for an adjective, it's “bemalte”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “behalten” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable