belassenvsbemessenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,031
“belassen” frequency rank
#22,272
“bemessen” frequency rank
34303
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature belassen bemessen
Definition etwas unangetastet, unverändert lassen festlegen, welchen Umfang etwas haben soll, und sich dabei an vorhandenen Größen/Eigenschaften/Prioritäten orientieren

Where the eye mixes belassen and bemessen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. belassen and bemessen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
belassen
8 ch
bemessen

Look-alike desk: belassen vs bemessen

A purely visual mix-up. belassen ([bəˈlasn̩]) and bemessen ([bəˈmɛsn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34303, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

belassen is recorded at frequency rank #12,031, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈlasn̩]. bemessen is at rank #22,272, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈmɛsn̩].

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 34303, this pair ranks #1,666,375 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of belassen vs bemessen

Shared letters: bens. Private to "belassen": al. Private to "bemessen": m.

"belassen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "bemessen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • belassen ← bbelassen · bealssen · belasen · belasesn · belassenn · belassne · belaßen · bellassen
  • bemessen ← bbemessen · beemssen · bemesen · bemesesn · bemessenn · bemessne · bemeßen · bemmessen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "belassen" and "bemessen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈlasn̩] versus [bəˈmɛsn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "belassen" vs "bemessen" - which ranks higher?
"belassen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,031 in our German list, against #22,272 for "bemessen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "belassen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bemessen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,666,375 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "belassen" and "bemessen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bemessen vs bereisen". 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 #1,666,375 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