bürstenvsBüsteWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#35,686
“bürsten” frequency rank
#26,801
“Büste” frequency rank
62487
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bürsten Büste
Definition das Haar des Menschen oder das Fell von Tieren mit einer Bürste pflegen plastisch gestaltetes Abbild einer Person bis zur Schulter oder als Halbfigur

Where the eye mixes bürsten and Büste

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

7 ch
bürsten
5 ch
Büste

Look-alike desk: bürsten vs Büste

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bürsten is [ˈbʏʁstn̩] while Büste is [ˈbʏstə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bürsten is recorded at frequency rank #35,686, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbʏʁstn̩]. 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 62487, this pair ranks #711,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bürsten vs Büste

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

"bürsten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "Büste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bürsten" and "Büste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bürsten" is a verb and "Büste" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "bürsten" vs "Büste" - which ranks higher?
"Büste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,801 in our German list, against #35,686 for "bürsten". 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 "bürsten" and "Büste" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bürsten" 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 #711,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bürsten" and "Büste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bussi vs Büste". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #711,130 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