bedankenvsbegangenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#6,276
“bedanken” frequency rank
#4,768
“begangen” frequency rank
11044
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bedanken begangen
Definition seinen Dank für etwas, das man erhalten hat, ausdrücken Partizip Perfekt des Verbs begehen

Where the eye mixes bedanken and begangen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. bedanken and begangen 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
begangen

Look-alike desk: bedanken vs begangen

A purely visual mix-up. bedanken ([bəˈdaŋkn̩]) and begangen ([bəˈɡaŋən]) 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 11044, 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]. begangen is at rank #4,768, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡaŋən].

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 11044, this pair ranks #1,971,981 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bedanken vs begangen

Shared letters: aben. Private to "bedanken": dk. Private to "begangen": g.

"bedanken" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "begangen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bedankenbbedanken · bdeanken · beadnken · bedaknen · bedanekn · bedankenn · bedankken · bedankne
  • begangenbbegangen · beagngen · begagnen · beganegn · begangenn · beganggen · begangne · beganngen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bedanken" and "begangen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈdaŋkn̩] versus [bəˈɡaŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bedanken" vs "begangen" - which ranks higher?
"begangen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,768 in our German list, against #6,276 for "bedanken". 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 "bedanken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "begangen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,971,981 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bedanken" and "begangen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begangen vs begangene". 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 #1,971,981 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