beantragenvsbeauftragenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,287
“beantragen” frequency rank
#19,506
“beauftragen” frequency rank
26793
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beantragen beauftragen
Definition einen Antrag auf etwas bei jemandem stellen jemandem einen Auftrag geben; jemanden auffordern, etwas zu tun

Where the eye mixes beantragen and beauftragen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. beantragen runs 10 letters (CVVCCCVCVC) against beauftragen's 11 (CVVVCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
beantragen
11 ch
beauftragen

Visual trap between beantragen and beauftragen

A purely visual mix-up. beantragen ([bəˈʔantʁaːɡn̩]) and beauftragen ([bəˈʔaʊ̯fˌtʁaːɡn̩]) 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 26793, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beantragen is recorded at frequency rank #7,287, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʔantʁaːɡn̩]. beauftragen is at rank #19,506, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʔaʊ̯fˌtʁaːɡn̩].

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 26793, this pair ranks #1,812,296 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beantragen vs beauftragen

Shared letters: abegnrt. Private to "beantragen": -. Private to "beauftragen": fu.

"beantragen" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCCVCVC  ·  "beauftragen" · 11 letters · shape CVVVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beantragen ← baentragen · bbeantragen · beanntragen · beanrtagen · beantargen · beantraegn · beantragenn · beantraggen
  • beauftragen ← baeuftragen · bbeauftragen · beafutragen · beaufftragen · beaufrtagen · beauftargen · beauftraegn · beauftragenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "beantragen" and "beauftragen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈʔantʁaːɡn̩] versus [bəˈʔaʊ̯fˌtʁaːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "beantragen" or "beauftragen" show up more?
"beantragen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,287 in our German list, against #19,506 for "beauftragen". 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 "beantragen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beauftragen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,812,296 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beantragen" and "beauftragen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beantrage vs beantragen". 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 #1,812,296 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