Which to use
“bestehen” and “besteuern” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,221
- “bestehen” frequency rank
- #48,772
- “besteuern” frequency rank
- 49993
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bestehen | besteuern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | erfolgreich absolvieren | auf eine Ware/Leistung staatliche Abgaben (Steuern) erheben; für etwas von jemandem Steuern verlangen/eintreiben |
Where the eye mixes bestehen and besteuern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. bestehen runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against besteuern's 9 (CVCCVVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between bestehen and besteuern
A purely visual mix-up. bestehen ([bəˈʃteːən]) and besteuern ([bəˈʃtɔɪ̯ɐn]) 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 49993, 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]. besteuern is at rank #48,772, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʃtɔɪ̯ɐn].
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 49993, this pair ranks #1,190,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bestehen vs besteuern
Shared letters: benst. Private to "bestehen": h. Private to "besteuern": ru.
"bestehen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "besteuern" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bestehen" and "besteuern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "bestehen" vs "besteuern" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
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 "besteuern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,190,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bestehen" and "besteuern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "besteuern vs beteuert". 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 #1,190,630 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.