bebenvsbewegTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,524
“beben” frequency rank
#48,002
“beweg” frequency rank
65526
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beben beweg
Definition stark erzittern 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bewegen

Where the eye mixes beben and beweg

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. beben and beweg follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
beben
5 ch
beweg

Look-alike desk: beben vs beweg

A purely visual mix-up. beben ([ˈbeːbn̩]) and beweg ([bəˈveːk]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beben is recorded at frequency rank #17,524, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbeːbn̩]. beweg is at rank #48,002, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈveːk].

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 65526, this pair ranks #603,851 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of beben vs beweg

Shared letters: be. Private to "beben": n. Private to "beweg": gw.

"beben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "beweg" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beben ← bbeben · bebben · bebenn · bebne · beebn
  • beweg ← bbeweg · beewg · bewegg · bewge · bewweg · bweeg · ebweg

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "beben" for "beweg" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbeːbn̩] versus [bəˈveːk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "beben" or "beweg" show up more?
"beben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,524 in our German list, against #48,002 for "beweg". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "beben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beweg" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #603,851 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beben" and "beweg" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beweg vs bewegst". 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 #603,851 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