BeinevsbergeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#2,192
“Beine” frequency rank
#3,562
“berge” frequency rank
5754
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Beine berge
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Bein 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bergen

Where the eye mixes Beine and berge

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Beine
5 ch
berge

Why the eye confuses Beine with berge

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Beine is [ˈbaɪ̯nə] while berge is [ˈbɛʁɡə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Beine is recorded at frequency rank #2,192, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbaɪ̯nə]. berge is at rank #3,562, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbɛʁɡə].

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 5754, this pair ranks #1,993,826 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Beine vs berge

Shared letters: be. Private to "Beine": in. Private to "berge": gr.

"Beine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "berge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Beinebbeine · beien · beinne · benie · ebine
  • bergebberge · begre · bereg · bergge · berrge · brege · ebrge

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Beine" and "berge" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Beine" is a noun and "berge" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Beine" or "berge"?
"Beine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,192 in our German list, against #3,562 for "berge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Beine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "berge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,993,826 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Beine" and "berge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Beine vs bonne". 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 #1,993,826 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