BohnenvsboneTell them apart

Which to use

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

#9,161
“Bohnen” frequency rank
#30,966
“bone” frequency rank
40127
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bohnen bone
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Bohne Knochen

Where the eye mixes Bohnen and bone

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

6 ch
Bohnen
4 ch
bone

Look-alike desk: Bohnen vs bone

A purely visual mix-up. Bohnen ([ˈboːnən]) and bone ([bəʊn]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40127, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bohnen is recorded at frequency rank #9,161, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈboːnən]. bone is at rank #30,966, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəʊn].

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 40127, this pair ranks #1,517,320 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bohnen vs bone

Shared letters: beno. Private to "Bohnen": h. Private to "bone": -.

"Bohnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "bone" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bohnenbbohnen · bhonen · bohenn · bohhnen · bohnenn · bohnne · bohnnen · bonhen
  • bonebbone · bnoe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Bohnen" and "bone" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈboːnən] versus [bəʊn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Bohnen" vs "bone" - which ranks higher?
"Bohnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,161 in our German list, against #30,966 for "bone". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Bohnen" and "bone" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bohnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,517,320 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bohnen" and "bone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bone 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 #1,517,320 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