beimvsbenzTell them apart

Quick tell: beim is a abbrev, benz is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“beim” is an abbrev and “benz” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#113
“beim” frequency rank
#7,154
“benz” frequency rank
7267
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beim benz
Definition Zusammenfluss von Präposition und bestimmtem Artikel (Dativ): bei dem Auto der Marke Mercedes-Benz

Where the eye mixes beim and benz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
beim
4 ch
benz

Why the eye confuses beim with benz

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: beim is [baɪ̯m] while benz is [bɛw̃s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (abbrev vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beim is recorded at frequency rank #113, classified as anabbrev, pronounced [baɪ̯m]. benz is at rank #7,154, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bɛw̃s].

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 7267, this pair ranks #1,988,803 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beim vs benz

Shared letters: be. Private to "beim": im. Private to "benz": nz.

"beim" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "benz" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beimbbeim · beimm · bemi · biem · ebim
  • benzbbenz · bennz · benzz · bezn · bnez · ebnz

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "beim" and "benz" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "beim" is an abbrev and "benz" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "beim" vs "benz" - which ranks higher?
"beim" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #113 in our German list, against #7,154 for "benz". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "beim" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "benz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,988,803 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beim" and "benz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "benz vs Brenz". 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 #1,988,803 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