Which to use
“Bild” is a noun and “bilde” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #349
- “Bild” frequency rank
- #12,249
- “bilde” frequency rank
- 12598
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Bild | bilde |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (künstlerische) zweidimensionale Darstellung und Wiedergabe in Form eines Gemäldes, einer Zeichnung oder Grafik | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bilden |
Where the eye mixes Bild and bilde
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Bild runs 4 letters (CVCC) against bilde's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Bild and bilde
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bild is [bɪlt] while bilde is [ˈbɪldə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Bild” sits inside “bilde”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Bild is recorded at frequency rank #349, classified as anoun, pronounced [bɪlt]. bilde is at rank #12,249, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbɪldə].
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 12598, this pair ranks #1,963,219 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Bild vs bilde
Shared letters: bdil. Private to "Bild": -. Private to "bilde": e.
"Bild" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "bilde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Bild" for "bilde" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Bild" or "bilde" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Bild" and "bilde" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Bild" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bilde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,963,219 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Bild" and "bilde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bilde vs bills". 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 #1,963,219 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.