bohnvsBoteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#39,253
“bohn” frequency rank
#13,327
“Bote” frequency rank
52580
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bohn Bote
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bohnen Person, die etwas überbringt, zum Beispiel eine Nachricht, Laufbursche einer Firma

Where the eye mixes bohn and Bote

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
bohn
4 ch
Bote

Visual trap between bohn and Bote

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bohn is [boːn] while Bote is [ˈboːtə]. 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 52580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bohn is recorded at frequency rank #39,253, classified as averb, pronounced [boːn]. Bote is at rank #13,327, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈboːtə].

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 52580, this pair ranks #1,091,271 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bohn vs Bote

Shared letters: bo. Private to "bohn": hn. Private to "Bote": et.

"bohn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Bote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bohnbbohn · bhon · bohhn · bohnn · bonh · obhn
  • Botebbote · boet · botte · btoe · obte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bohn" for "Bote" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bohn" is a verb and "Bote" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "bohn" or "Bote" show up more?
"Bote" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,327 in our German list, against #39,253 for "bohn". 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 "bohn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,091,271 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bohn" and "Bote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bohn vs brun". 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 #1,091,271 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