BeinevsbrinkWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Beine” and “brink” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,192
“Beine” frequency rank
#37,421
“brink” frequency rank
39613
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Beine brink
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Bein Rand, Kante (besonders an einem steil abfallenden Platz, ein Kliff oder eine Schlucht)

Letter map: Beine vs brink

Shared letters muted; letters that set Beine and brink apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
Beine
5 ch
brink

Corpus notes: Beine and brink

Beine and brink are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39613, 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]. brink is at rank #37,421, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 39613, this pair ranks #1,531,844 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Beine vs brink

Shared letters: bin. Private to "Beine": e. Private to "brink": kr.

"Beine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "brink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Beinebbeine · beien · beinne · benie · ebine
  • brinkbbrink · birnk · brikn · brinkk · brinnk · brnik · brrink · rbink

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Beine" for "brink" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "Beine" or "brink"?
"Beine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,192 in our German list, against #37,421 for "brink". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "Beine" vs "brink" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Beine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brink" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,531,844 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Beine" and "brink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brink vs puzzles". 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 #1,531,844 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