bemalenvsbemaltenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: bemalen is a verb, bemalten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bemalen” is a verb and “bemalten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,066
“bemalen” frequency rank
#40,431
“bemalten” frequency rank
81497
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bemalen bemalten
Definition mit Malereien verzieren, dekorieren Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs bemalt

Where the eye mixes bemalen and bemalten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. bemalen runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against bemalten's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
bemalen
8 ch
bemalten

Visual trap between bemalen and bemalten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bemalen is [bəˈmaːlən] while bemalten is [bəˈmaːltn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81497, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bemalen is recorded at frequency rank #41,066, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈmaːlən]. bemalten is at rank #40,431, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈmaːltn̩].

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 81497, this pair ranks #174,682 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bemalen vs bemalten

Shared letters: abelmn. Private to "bemalen": -. Private to "bemalten": t.

"bemalen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "bemalten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bemalenbbemalen · beamlen · bemaeln · bemalenn · bemallen · bemalne · bemlaen · bemmalen
  • bemaltenbbemalten · beamlten · bemaletn · bemallten · bemaltenn · bemaltne · bemaltten · bematlen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bemalen" and "bemalten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bemalen" is a verb and "bemalten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bemalen" or "bemalten"?
"bemalten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,431 in our German list, against #41,066 for "bemalen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bemalen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bemalten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #174,682 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bemalen" and "bemalten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "banalen vs bemalen". 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 #174,682 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