bildevsBildernWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#12,249
“bilde” frequency rank
#2,811
“Bildern” frequency rank
15060
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bilde Bildern
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bilden Dativ Plural des Substantivs Bild

Where the eye mixes bilde and Bildern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. bilde runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Bildern's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
bilde
7 ch
Bildern

Visual trap between bilde and Bildern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bilde is [ˈbɪldə] while Bildern is [ˈbɪldɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “bilde” sits inside “Bildern”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15060, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bilde is recorded at frequency rank #12,249, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbɪldə]. Bildern is at rank #2,811, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɪldɐn].

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 15060, this pair ranks #1,946,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bilde vs Bildern

Shared letters: bdeil. Private to "bilde": -. Private to "Bildern": nr.

"bilde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Bildern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bilde ← bbilde · bidle · bildde · biled · billde · blide · iblde
  • Bildern ← bbildern · bidlern · bilddern · bildenr · bildernn · bilderrn · bildren · biledrn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bilde" and "Bildern" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bilde" is a verb and "Bildern" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bilde" or "Bildern"?
"Bildern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,811 in our German list, against #12,249 for "bilde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bilde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bildern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,946,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bilde" and "Bildern" 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 #1,946,691 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