bedankenvsbefandenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,276
“bedanken” frequency rank
#6,637
“befanden” frequency rank
12913
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bedanken befanden
Definition seinen Dank für etwas, das man erhalten hat, ausdrücken 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs befinden

Where the eye mixes bedanken and befanden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. bedanken and befanden follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
bedanken
8 ch
befanden

Why the eye confuses bedanken with befanden

A purely visual mix-up. bedanken ([bəˈdaŋkn̩]) and befanden ([bəˈfandn̩]) 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 12913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bedanken is recorded at frequency rank #6,276, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈdaŋkn̩]. befanden is at rank #6,637, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈfandn̩].

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 12913, this pair ranks #1,961,260 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bedanken vs befanden

Shared letters: abden. Private to "bedanken": k. Private to "befanden": f.

"bedanken" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "befanden" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bedanken ← bbedanken · bdeanken · beadnken · bedaknen · bedanekn · bedankenn · bedankken · bedankne
  • befanden ← bbefanden · beafnden · befadnen · befandden · befandenn · befandne · befanedn · befannden

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bedanken" for "befanden" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈdaŋkn̩] versus [bəˈfandn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bedanken" vs "befanden" - which ranks higher?
"bedanken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,276 in our German list, against #6,637 for "befanden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "bedanken" and "befanden" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bedanken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "befanden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,961,260 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bedanken" and "befanden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bedanken vs bedrängen". 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 #1,961,260 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