A process for producing polyarylene ether beads from a polyarylene ether solution, comprising the steps of i) dividing the polyarylene ether solution into droplets, ii) transferring the droplets into a precipitation bath to form polyarylene ether beads in the precipitation bath which A) comprises at least one aprotic solvent (component) and at least one protic solvent (component), B) has a temperature of 0°C to T c, where the critical temperature T c in [°C] can be determined by the numerical equation T c = (99 - c) / 0.61 in which c is the concentration of component in the precipitation bath in [% by weight] and C) has component in concentrations of 12% by weight to 70% by weight, where the percentages by weight are each based on the sum of the percentages by weight of component and of component in the precipitation bath, and wherein the precipitation bath comprises water and/or alcohol as component, wherein the polyarylene ether solution has a concentration of 5 to 50% by weight of polyarylene ether in the aprotic solvent, where the percentages by weight are based on the sum of the percentages by weight of the polyarylene ether and the aprotic solvent, wherein the polyarylene ether solution on division has a temperature of 15 to 250°C, wherein the aprotic solvent is selected from the group consisting of dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethylformamide, sulfolane, diphenyl sulfone, 1,2-dichlorobenzene, hexamethylphosphoramide and mixtures thereof. i) dividing the polyarylene ether solution into droplets, ii) transferring the droplets into a precipitation bath to form polyarylene ether beads in the precipitation bath which A) comprises at least one aprotic solvent (component) and at least one protic solvent (component), B) has a temperature of 0°C to T c, where the critical temperature T c in [°C] can be determined by the numerical equation T c = (99 - c) / 0.61 in which c is the concentration of component in the precipitation bath in [% by weight] and C) has component in concentrations of 12% by weight to 70% by weight, where the percentages by weight are each based on the sum of the percentages by weight of component and of component in the precipitation bath, and wherein the precipitation bath comprises water and/or alcohol as component, wherein the polyarylene ether solution has a concentration of 5 to 50% by weight of polyarylene ether in the aprotic solvent, where the percentages by weight are based on the sum of the percentages by weight of the polyarylene ether and the aprotic solvent, wherein the polyarylene ether solution on division has a temperature of 15 to 250°C, wherein the aprotic solvent is selected from the group consisting of dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethylformamide, sulfolane, diphenyl sulfone, 1,2-dichlorobenzene, hexamethylphosphoramide and mixtures thereof. A) comprises at least one aprotic solvent (component) and at least one protic solvent (component), B) has a temperature of 0°C to T c, where the critical temperature T c in [°C] can be determined by the numerical equation T c = (99 - c) / 0.61 in which c is the concentration of component in the precipitation bath in [% by weight] and C) has component in concentrations of 12% by weight to 70% by weight, where the percentages by weight are each based on the sum of the percentages by weight of component and of component in the precipitation bath, and wherein the precipitation bath comprises water and/or alcohol as component, wherein the polyarylene ether solution has a concentration of 5 to 50% by weight of polyarylene ether in the aprotic solvent, where the percentages by weight are based on the sum of the percentages by weight of the polyarylene ether and the aprotic solvent, wherein the polyarylene ether solution on division has a temperature of 15 to 250°C, wherein the aprotic solvent is selected from the group consisting of dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethylformamide, sulfolane, diphenyl sulfone, 1,2-dichlorobenzene, hexamethylphosphoramide and mixtures thereof.