bezahlstvsbezahlteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#23,057
“bezahlst” frequency rank
#10,624
“bezahlte” frequency rank
33681
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bezahlst bezahlte
Definition 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bezahlen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs bezahlt

Where the eye mixes bezahlst and bezahlte

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

8 ch
bezahlst
8 ch
bezahlte

Why the eye confuses bezahlst with bezahlte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bezahlst is [bəˈt͡saːlst] while bezahlte is [bəˈt͡saːltə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33681, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bezahlst is recorded at frequency rank #23,057, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈt͡saːlst]. bezahlte is at rank #10,624, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈt͡saːltə].

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 33681, this pair ranks #1,680,416 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bezahlst vs bezahlte

Shared letters: abehltz. Private to "bezahlst": s. Private to "bezahlte": -.

"bezahlst" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCC  ·  "bezahlte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bezahlstbbezahlst · beazhlst · bezahhlst · bezahllst · bezahlsst · bezahlstt · bezahlts · bezahslt
  • bezahltebbezahlte · beazhlte · bezahhlte · bezahlet · bezahllte · bezahltte · bezahtle · bezalhte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bezahlst" for "bezahlte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bezahlst" is a verb and "bezahlte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "bezahlst" vs "bezahlte" - which ranks higher?
"bezahlte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,624 in our German list, against #23,057 for "bezahlst". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bezahlst" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bezahlte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,680,416 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bezahlst" and "bezahlte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bezahlte 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 #1,680,416 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