bittenvsbuttonWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#2,536
“bitten” frequency rank
#9,162
“button” frequency rank
11698
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bitten button
Definition jemanden in höflicher Form nach etwas fragen, sich in höflicher Form an jemanden wenden, jemanden um etwas ersuchen, einen Wunsch ausdrücken Knopf (Kleidung)

Where the eye mixes bitten and button

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
bitten
6 ch
button

Look-alike desk: bitten vs button

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bitten is [ˈbɪtn̩] while button is [ˈbʌtn.]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11698, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bitten is recorded at frequency rank #2,536, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbɪtn̩]. button is at rank #9,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʌtn.].

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 11698, this pair ranks #1,968,421 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bitten vs button

Shared letters: bnt. Private to "bitten": ei. Private to "button": ou.

"bitten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "button" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bittenbbitten · biten · bitetn · bittenn · bittne · btiten · ibtten
  • buttonbbutton · btuton · buton · butotn · buttno · buttonn · ubtton

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bitten" and "button" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bitten" is a verb and "button" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "bitten" or "button" show up more?
"bitten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,536 in our German list, against #9,162 for "button". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bitten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "button" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,968,421 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bitten" and "button" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bitt vs bitten". 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 #1,968,421 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