Which to use
“bien” is an adverb and “bist” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,924
- “bien” frequency rank
- #225
- “bist” frequency rank
- 26149
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bien | bist |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | vom Menschen her positiv bewertet | 2. Person Singular Präsens Indikativ des Verbs sein |
Where the eye mixes bien and bist
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bien and bist
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bien is [ˈbjen] while bist is [bɪst]. 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 (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bien is recorded at frequency rank #25,924, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈbjen]. bist is at rank #225, tagged as averb, pronounced [bɪst].
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 26149, this pair ranks #1,822,420 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bien vs bist
Shared letters: bi. Private to "bien": en. Private to "bist": st.
"bien" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "bist" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bien" for "bist" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "bien" or "bist" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bien" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bist" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,822,420 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bien" and "bist" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bien vs Brenz". 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 #1,822,420 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.