BissenvsbisserlTell them apart

Quick tell: Bissen is a noun, bisserl is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Bissen” is a noun and “bisserl” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,060
“Bissen” frequency rank
#24,649
“bisserl” frequency rank
47709
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bissen bisserl
Definition die Menge einer festen Speise, die man auf einmal in den Mund nehmen beziehungsweise abbeißen kann süddeutsch, bisschen

Where the eye mixes Bissen and bisserl

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Bissen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against bisserl's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Bissen
7 ch
bisserl

Look-alike desk: Bissen vs bisserl

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bissen is [ˈbɪsn̩] while bisserl is [ˈbɪsɐl]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47709, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bissen is recorded at frequency rank #23,060, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɪsn̩]. bisserl is at rank #24,649, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈbɪsɐl].

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 47709, this pair ranks #1,274,848 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Bissen vs bisserl

Shared letters: beis. Private to "Bissen": n. Private to "bisserl": lr.

"Bissen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "bisserl" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bissen ← bbissen · bisen · bisesn · bissenn · bissne · bißen · bsisen · ibssen
  • bisserl ← bbisserl · biserl · bisesrl · bisselr · bisserll · bisserrl · bissrel · bißerl

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Bissen" and "bisserl" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Bissen" is a noun and "bisserl" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Bissen" or "bisserl" show up more?
"Bissen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,060 in our German list, against #24,649 for "bisserl". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bissen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bisserl" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,274,848 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bissen" and "bisserl" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bissen vs Blusen". 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 #1,274,848 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