bewährtvsbezahltWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bewährt is a adjective, bezahlt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bewährt” is an adjective and “bezahlt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,245
“bewährt” frequency rank
#1,623
“bezahlt” frequency rank
11868
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bewährt bezahlt
Definition sich als fähig, geeignet, zuverlässig erwiesen habend Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bezahlen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bewährt and bezahlt apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
bewährt
7 ch
bezahlt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bewährt is [bəˈvɛːɐ̯t] while bezahlt is [bəˈt͡saːlt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bewährt is recorded at frequency rank #10,245, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈvɛːɐ̯t]. bezahlt is at rank #1,623, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈt͡saːlt].

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 11868, this pair ranks #1,967,473 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bewährt vs bezahlt

Shared letters: beht. Private to "bewährt": rwä. Private to "bezahlt": alz.

"bewährt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "bezahlt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bezahltbbezahlt · beazhlt · bezahhlt · bezahllt · bezahltt · bezahtl · bezalht · bezhalt

Frequency comparison

bewährt#10,245
bezahlt#1,623

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bewährt" and "bezahlt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bewährt" is an adjective and "bezahlt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bewährt" or "bezahlt"?
"bezahlt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,623 in our German list, against #10,245 for "bewährt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bewährt vs bezahlt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “bewährt”; for a verb, it's “bezahlt”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bewährt” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list