beidenvsbleibenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: beiden is a unknown, bleiben is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“beiden” is an unknown and “bleiben” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#240
“beiden” frequency rank
#376
“bleiben” frequency rank
616
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beiden bleiben
Definition Dativ Plural der starken Flexion des Indefinitpronomens beide einen Ort beibehalten

Where the eye mixes beiden and bleiben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
beiden
7 ch
bleiben

Visual trap between beiden and bleiben

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: beiden is [ˈbaɪ̯dn̩] while bleiben is [ˈblaɪ̯bn̩]. 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 (unknown vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beiden is recorded at frequency rank #240, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈbaɪ̯dn̩]. bleiben is at rank #376, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈblaɪ̯bn̩].

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 616, this pair ranks #2,005,609 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beiden vs bleiben

Shared letters: bein. Private to "beiden": d. Private to "bleiben": l.

"beiden" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "bleiben" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beidenbbeiden · bedien · beidden · beidenn · beidne · beiedn · bieden · ebiden
  • bleibenbbleiben · beliben · blebien · bleibben · bleibenn · bleibne · bleiebn · blleiben

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "beiden" for "bleiben" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "beiden" is an unknown and "bleiben" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "beiden" vs "bleiben" - which ranks higher?
"beiden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #240 in our German list, against #376 for "bleiben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "beiden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bleiben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,005,609 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beiden" and "bleiben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beiden vs bereden". 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 #2,005,609 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