beltvsbemaltWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#35,093
“belt” frequency rank
#21,189
“bemalt” frequency rank
56282
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature belt bemalt
Definition Gürtel, Gurt Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bemalen

Where the eye mixes belt and bemalt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. belt runs 4 letters (CVCC) against bemalt's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
belt
6 ch
bemalt

Visual trap between belt and bemalt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: belt is [bɛlt] while bemalt is [bəˈmaːlt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56282, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

belt is recorded at frequency rank #35,093, classified as anoun, pronounced [bɛlt]. bemalt is at rank #21,189, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈmaːlt].

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 56282, this pair ranks #946,301 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of belt vs bemalt

Shared letters: belt. Private to "belt": -. Private to "bemalt": am.

"belt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "bemalt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • belt ← bbelt · beltt · betl · blet · eblt
  • bemalt ← bbemalt · beamlt · bemallt · bemaltt · bematl · bemlat · bemmalt · bmealt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "belt" for "bemalt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "belt" is a noun and "bemalt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "belt" vs "bemalt" - which ranks higher?
"bemalt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,189 in our German list, against #35,093 for "belt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "belt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bemalt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #946,301 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "belt" and "bemalt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bal vs belt". 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 #946,301 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