bebenvsbeneWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: beben is a verb, bene is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“beben” is a verb and “bene” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,582
“beben” frequency rank
#42,843
“bene” frequency rank
63425
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beben bene
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de beber o de beberse. Bien.

Where the eye mixes beben and bene

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
beben
4 ch
bene

Look-alike desk: beben vs bene

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: beben is [ˈbeβ̞ẽn] while bene is [bɛn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63425, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beben is recorded at frequency rank #20,582, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbeβ̞ẽn]. bene is at rank #42,843, tagged as anadv, pronounced [bɛn].

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 63425, this pair ranks #48,802 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of beben vs bene

Shared letters: ben. Private to "beben": -. Private to "bene": -.

"beben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "bene" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bebenbbeben · bbeen · bebben · bebenn · bebne · beebn · ebben · veven
  • benebbene · benne · bnee · ebne · vene

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "beben" and "bene" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "beben" is a verb and "bene" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "beben" vs "bene" - which ranks higher?
"beben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,582 in our Spanish list, against #42,843 for "bene". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "beben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bene" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,802 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beben" and "bene" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bene vs brie". 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 #48,802 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list