BienenvsbildenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Bienen is a noun, bilden is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Bienen” is a noun and “bilden” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,019
“Bienen” frequency rank
#1,625
“bilden” frequency rank
8644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bienen bilden
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Biene etwas zustande kommen, entstehen lassen

Where the eye mixes Bienen and bilden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Bienen (CVVCVC) and bilden (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Bienen
6 ch
bilden

Look-alike desk: Bienen vs bilden

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bienen is [ˈbiːnən] while bilden is [ˈbɪldn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8644, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bienen is recorded at frequency rank #7,019, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbiːnən]. bilden is at rank #1,625, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbɪldn̩].

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 8644, this pair ranks #1,983,460 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bienen vs bilden

Shared letters: bein. Private to "Bienen": -. Private to "bilden": dl.

"Bienen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "bilden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bienenbbienen · bieenn · bienenn · bienne · biennen · bineen · ibenen
  • bildenbbilden · bidlen · bildden · bildenn · bildne · biledn · billden · bliden

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Bienen" and "bilden" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Bienen" is a noun and "bilden" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Bienen" or "bilden"?
"bilden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,625 in our German list, against #7,019 for "Bienen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bienen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bilden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,983,460 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bienen" and "bilden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bienen vs brenn". 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 #1,983,460 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