Which to use
“behalten” is a verb and “bemalten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,017
- “behalten” frequency rank
- #40,431
- “bemalten” frequency rank
- 42448
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | behalten | bemalten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | im Besitz einer Sache bleiben | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs bemalt |
Where the eye mixes behalten and bemalten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. behalten and bemalten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: behalten vs bemalten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: behalten is [bəˈhaltn̩] while bemalten is [bəˈmaːltn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - h in “behalten” becomes m in “bemalten”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42448, 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]. bemalten is at rank #40,431, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈmaːltn̩].
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 42448, this pair ranks #1,448,979 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of behalten vs bemalten
Shared letters: abelnt. Private to "behalten": h. Private to "bemalten": m.
"behalten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "bemalten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "behalten" for "bemalten" ever safe?
Frequency check: "behalten" vs "bemalten" - which ranks higher?
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 "behalten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bemalten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,448,979 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "behalten" and "bemalten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "behaltet vs bemalten". 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 #1,448,979 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.