bezahlevsbezahlterConfusable pair

Quick tell: bezahle is a verb, bezahlter is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#15,316
“bezahle” frequency rank
#43,064
“bezahlter” frequency rank
58380
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bezahle bezahlter
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bezahlen Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bezahlt

Where the eye mixes bezahle and bezahlter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
bezahle
9 ch
bezahlter

Visual trap between bezahle and bezahlter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bezahle is [bəˈt͡saːlə] while bezahlter is [bəˈt͡saːltɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58380, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bezahle is recorded at frequency rank #15,316, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈt͡saːlə]. bezahlter is at rank #43,064, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈt͡saːltɐ].

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 58380, this pair ranks #864,997 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bezahle vs bezahlter

Shared letters: abehlz. Private to "bezahle": -. Private to "bezahlter": rt.

"bezahle" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "bezahlter" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bezahlebbezahle · beazhle · bezahel · bezahhle · bezahlle · bezalhe · bezhale · bezzahle
  • bezahlterbbezahlter · beazhlter · bezahhlter · bezahletr · bezahllter · bezahlterr · bezahltre · bezahltter

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bezahle" and "bezahlter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bezahle" is a verb and "bezahlter" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "bezahle" or "bezahlter" show up more?
"bezahle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,316 in our German list, against #43,064 for "bezahlter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "bezahle" and "bezahlter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bezahle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bezahlter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #864,997 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bezahle" and "bezahlter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bewährter vs bezahlter". 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 #864,997 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list