BirnevsBitteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Birne” and “Bitte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,524
“Birne” frequency rank
#183
“Bitte” frequency rank
14707
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Birne Bitte
Definition Obstbaumart höfliche Ausdrucksform eines Wunsches, einer Aufforderung, eines Ersuchens

Where the eye mixes Birne and Bitte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Birne
5 ch
Bitte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Birne ([ˈbɪʁnə]) and Bitte ([ˈbɪtə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Birne is recorded at frequency rank #14,524, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɪʁnə]. Bitte is at rank #183, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɪtə].

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 14707, this pair ranks #1,949,321 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Birne vs Bitte

Shared letters: bei. Private to "Birne": nr. Private to "Bitte": t.

"Birne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Bitte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Birnebbirne · binre · biren · birnne · birrne · brine · ibrne
  • Bittebbitte · bite · bitet · btite · ibtte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Birne" and "Bitte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbɪʁnə] versus [ˈbɪtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Birne" or "Bitte"?
"Bitte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #183 in our German list, against #14,524 for "Birne". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Birne" and "Bitte". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Birne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bitte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,949,321 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Birne" and "Bitte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bible vs Birne". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list