Which to use
“beste” and “böse” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #473
- “beste” frequency rank
- #1,543
- “böse” frequency rank
- 2016
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | beste | böse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum Superlativ der starken Flexion des Adjektivs gut | moralisch falsch, nicht gut; bösartig |
Where the eye mixes beste and böse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: beste vs böse
A purely visual mix-up. beste ([ˈbɛstə]) and böse ([ˈbøːzə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2016, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
beste is recorded at frequency rank #473, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbɛstə]. böse is at rank #1,543, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbøːzə].
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 2016, this pair ranks #2,003,271 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of beste vs böse
Shared letters: bes. Private to "beste": t. Private to "böse": ö.
"beste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "böse" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- beste ← bbeste · beset · besste · bestte · betse · bsete · ebste
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "beste" and "böse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "beste" vs "böse" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "beste" and "böse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "beste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "böse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,003,271 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "beste" and "böse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "BfS vs böse". 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 #2,003,271 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.