Which to use
“bestehen” is a verb and “bestehende” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,221
- “bestehen” frequency rank
- #3,874
- “bestehende” frequency rank
- 5095
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bestehen | bestehende |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | erfolgreich absolvieren | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs bestehend |
Where the eye mixes bestehen and bestehende
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. bestehen runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against bestehende's 10 (CVCCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: bestehen vs bestehende
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bestehen is [bəˈʃteːən] while bestehende is [bəˈʃteːəndə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “bestehen” sits inside “bestehende”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5095, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bestehen is recorded at frequency rank #1,221, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʃteːən]. bestehende is at rank #3,874, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʃteːəndə].
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 5095, this pair ranks #1,995,812 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bestehen vs bestehende
Shared letters: behnst. Private to "bestehen": -. Private to "bestehende": d.
"bestehen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "bestehende" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- bestehen ← bbestehen · besethen · besstehen · besteehn · bestehenn · bestehhen · bestehne · bestheen
- bestehende ← bbestehende · besethende · besstehende · besteehnde · bestehedne · bestehendde · bestehened · bestehennde
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bestehen" and "bestehende" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "bestehen" or "bestehende" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bestehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bestehende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,995,812 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bestehen" and "bestehende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bestehen 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 #1,995,812 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.