Which to use
“bestand” is a verb and “bestens” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,958
- “bestand” frequency rank
- #4,104
- “bestens” frequency rank
- 6062
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bestand | bestens |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum des Verbs bestehen | auf das Beste, sehr gut, ausgezeichnet, hervorragend |
Where the eye mixes bestand and bestens
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. bestand and bestens follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: bestand vs bestens
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bestand is [bəˈʃtant] while bestens is [ˈbɛstn̩s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6062, 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]. bestens is at rank #4,104, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈbɛstn̩s].
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 6062, this pair ranks #1,992,848 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bestand vs bestens
Shared letters: benst. Private to "bestand": ad. Private to "bestens": -.
"bestand" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "bestens" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bestand" and "bestens" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "bestand" or "bestens"?
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 "bestand" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bestens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,992,848 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bestand" and "bestens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bestens vs Bestien". 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 #1,992,848 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.