BleivsBöenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,614
“Blei” frequency rank
#39,264
“Böen” frequency rank
50878
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Blei Böen
Definition silbernes, leicht verformbares, toxisch wirkendes Metall Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Bö

Where the eye mixes Blei and Böen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Blei (CCVV) and Böen (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Blei
4 ch
Böen

Look-alike desk: Blei vs Böen

A purely visual mix-up. Blei ([blaɪ̯]) and Böen ([ˈbøːən]) 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 50878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Blei is recorded at frequency rank #11,614, classified as anoun, pronounced [blaɪ̯]. Böen is at rank #39,264, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbøːən].

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 50878, this pair ranks #1,156,875 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Blei vs Böen

Shared letters: be. Private to "Blei": il. Private to "Böen": nö.

"Blei" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "Böen" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Blei ← bblei · beli · blie · bllei · lbei

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Blei" for "Böen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([blaɪ̯] versus [ˈbøːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Blei" vs "Böen" - which ranks higher?
"Blei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,614 in our German list, against #39,264 for "Böen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Blei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Böen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,156,875 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Blei" and "Böen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Böen vs Brenz". 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 #1,156,875 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