BürdevsBürsteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#33,507
“Bürde” frequency rank
#28,582
“Bürste” frequency rank
62089
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bürde Bürste
Definition Last mit hohem Gewicht aus einem Stiel oder Griff und befestigten Borsten bestehender Gegenstand

Where the eye mixes Bürde and Bürste

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

5 ch
Bürde
6 ch
Bürste

Visual trap between Bürde and Bürste

A purely visual mix-up. Bürde ([ˈbʏʁdə]) and Bürste ([ˈbʏʁstə]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62089, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bürde is recorded at frequency rank #33,507, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʏʁdə]. Bürste is at rank #28,582, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʏʁstə].

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 62089, this pair ranks #725,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Bürde vs Bürste

Shared letters: berü. Private to "Bürde": d. Private to "Bürste": st.

"Bürde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Bürste" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Bürde" and "Bürste" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbʏʁdə] versus [ˈbʏʁstə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Bürde" or "Bürste" show up more?
"Bürste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,582 in our German list, against #33,507 for "Bürde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bürde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bürste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #725,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bürde" and "Bürste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bube vs Bürde". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #725,568 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