Which to use
“bestand” is a verb and “bestanden” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,958
- “bestand” frequency rank
- #4,103
- “bestanden” frequency rank
- 6061
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bestand | bestanden |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum des Verbs bestehen | Pflanzen als Bewuchs aufweisend |
Where the eye mixes bestand and bestanden
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bestand vs bestanden
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bestand is [bəˈʃtant] while bestanden is [bəˈʃtandn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “bestand” sits inside “bestanden”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6061, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bestand is recorded at frequency rank #1,958, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʃtant]. bestanden is at rank #4,103, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʃtandn̩].
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 6061, this pair ranks #1,992,851 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bestand vs bestanden
Shared letters: abdenst. Private to "bestand": -. Private to "bestanden": -.
"bestand" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "bestanden" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bestand" for "bestanden" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bestand" vs "bestanden" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "bestand" and "bestanden" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bestand" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bestanden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,992,851 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bestand" and "bestanden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bestanden vs Bestandes". 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 #1,992,851 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.