BensvsbinConfusable pair

Quick tell: Bens is a noun, bin is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Bens” is a noun and “bin” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,433
“Bens” frequency rank
#86
“bin” frequency rank
40519
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bens bin
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Ben 1. Person Singular Präsens Indikativ von sein

Where the eye mixes Bens and bin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Bens
3 ch
bin

Why the eye confuses Bens with bin

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bens is [bɛns] while bin is [bɪn]. 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 (noun vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bens is recorded at frequency rank #40,433, classified as anoun, pronounced [bɛns]. bin is at rank #86, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [bɪn].

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 40519, this pair ranks #1,506,106 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Bens vs bin

Shared letters: bn. Private to "Bens": es. Private to "bin": i.

"Bens" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "bin" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bensbbens · benns · benss · besn · bnes · ebns

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Bens" and "bin" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Bens" is a noun and "bin" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Bens" or "bin" show up more?
"bin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #86 in our German list, against #40,433 for "Bens". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Bens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,506,106 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bens" and "bin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bens vs Brenz". 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 #1,506,106 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