bleibenvsbleibendeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bleiben is a verb, bleibende is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bleiben” is a verb and “bleibende” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#376
“bleiben” frequency rank
#25,077
“bleibende” frequency rank
25453
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bleiben bleibende
Definition einen Ort beibehalten Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bleibend

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bleiben and bleibende apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
bleiben
9 ch
bleibende

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bleiben is [ˈblaɪ̯bn̩] while bleibende is [ˈblaɪ̯bn̩də]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “bleiben” sits inside “bleibende”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25453, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bleiben is recorded at frequency rank #376, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈblaɪ̯bn̩]. bleibende is at rank #25,077, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈblaɪ̯bn̩də].

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 25453, this pair ranks #1,833,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bleiben vs bleibende

Shared letters: beiln. Private to "bleiben": -. Private to "bleibende": d.

"bleiben" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "bleibende" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bleibenbbleiben · beliben · blebien · bleibben · bleibenn · bleibne · bleiebn · blleiben
  • bleibendebbleibende · belibende · blebiende · bleibbende · bleibedne · bleibendde · bleibened · bleibennde

Frequency comparison

bleiben#376
bleibende#25,077

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bleiben" and "bleibende" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bleiben" is a verb and "bleibende" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bleiben" or "bleibende"?
"bleiben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #376 in our German list, against #25,077 for "bleibende". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering bleiben vs bleibende

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “bleiben”; for an adjective, it's “bleibende”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bleiben” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list