BrüstenvsBüsteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,172
“Brüsten” frequency rank
#26,801
“Büste” frequency rank
45973
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Brüsten Büste
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Brust plastisch gestaltetes Abbild einer Person bis zur Schulter oder als Halbfigur

Where the eye mixes Brüsten and Büste

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Brüsten
5 ch
Büste

Visual trap between Brüsten and Büste

A purely visual mix-up. Brüsten ([ˈbʁʏstn̩]) and Büste ([ˈbʏstə]) 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 45973, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Brüsten is recorded at frequency rank #19,172, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʁʏstn̩]. Büste is at rank #26,801, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʏstə].

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 45973, this pair ranks #1,334,862 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Brüsten vs Büste

Shared letters: bestü. Private to "Brüsten": nr. Private to "Büste": -.

"Brüsten" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Büste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Brüsten" for "Büste" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbʁʏstn̩] versus [ˈbʏstə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Brüsten" or "Büste" show up more?
"Brüsten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,172 in our German list, against #26,801 for "Büste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Brüsten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Büste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,334,862 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Brüsten" and "Büste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bussi vs Büste". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,334,862 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