behindernvsBehinderteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#14,017
“behindern” frequency rank
#8,177
“Behinderte” frequency rank
22194
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature behindern Behinderte
Definition stören, an etwas hindern, von etwas abhalten weibliche Person mit einer starken und dauerhaften körperlichen und/oder geistigen Beeinträchtigung der gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Teilhabe

Where the eye mixes behindern and Behinderte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
behindern
10 ch
Behinderte

Visual trap between behindern and Behinderte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: behindern is [bəˈhɪndɐn] while Behinderte is [bəˈhɪndɐtə]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

behindern is recorded at frequency rank #14,017, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈhɪndɐn]. Behinderte is at rank #8,177, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəˈhɪndɐtə].

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 22194, this pair ranks #1,877,149 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of behindern vs Behinderte

Shared letters: bdehinr. Private to "behindern": -. Private to "Behinderte": t.

"behindern" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "Behinderte" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • behindernbbehindern · behhindern · behidnern · behinddern · behindenr · behindernn · behinderrn · behindren
  • Behindertebbehinderte · behhinderte · behidnerte · behindderte · behinderet · behinderrte · behindertte · behindetre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "behindern" and "Behinderte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "behindern" is a verb and "Behinderte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "behindern" vs "Behinderte" - which ranks higher?
"Behinderte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,177 in our German list, against #14,017 for "behindern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "behindern" and "Behinderte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "behindern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Behinderte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,877,149 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "behindern" and "Behinderte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Behinderte vs bewunderte". 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 #1,877,149 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