BohnevsBohnenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,109
“Bohne” frequency rank
#9,161
“Bohnen” frequency rank
37270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bohne Bohnen
Definition Pflanze (oder Teil) verschiedener Schmetterlingsblütler Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Bohne

Where the eye mixes Bohne and Bohnen

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

5 ch
Bohne
6 ch
Bohnen

Visual trap between Bohne and Bohnen

A purely visual mix-up. Bohne ([ˈboːnə]) and Bohnen ([ˈboːnən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Bohne” sits inside “Bohnen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bohne is recorded at frequency rank #28,109, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈboːnə]. Bohnen is at rank #9,161, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈboːnən].

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 37270, this pair ranks #1,594,490 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bohne vs Bohnen

Shared letters: behno. Private to "Bohne": -. Private to "Bohnen": -.

"Bohne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Bohnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bohne ← bbohne · bhone · bohen · bohhne · bonhe · obhne
  • Bohnen ← bbohnen · bhonen · bohenn · bohhnen · bohnenn · bohnne · bohnnen · bonhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Bohne" for "Bohnen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈboːnə] versus [ˈboːnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Bohne" or "Bohnen"?
"Bohnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,161 in our German list, against #28,109 for "Bohne". 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 "Bohne" and "Bohnen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bohne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bohnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,594,490 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bohne" and "Bohnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bohne vs Borneo". 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 #1,594,490 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