bedauernvsbedaureWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,240
“bedauern” frequency rank
#38,626
“bedaure” frequency rank
48866
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bedauern bedaure
Definition jemanden bemitleiden, mit jemandem fühlen 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bedauern

Where the eye mixes bedauern and bedaure

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

8 ch
bedauern
7 ch
bedaure

Why the eye confuses bedauern with bedaure

A purely visual mix-up. bedauern ([bəˈdaʊ̯ɐn]) and bedaure ([bəˈdaʊ̯ʁə]) 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 48866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bedauern is recorded at frequency rank #10,240, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈdaʊ̯ɐn]. bedaure is at rank #38,626, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈdaʊ̯ʁə].

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 48866, this pair ranks #1,232,660 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bedauern vs bedaure

Shared letters: abderu. Private to "bedauern": n. Private to "bedaure": -.

"bedauern" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVVCC  ·  "bedaure" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bedauernbbedauern · bdeauern · beaduern · bedaeurn · bedauenr · bedauernn · bedauerrn · bedauren
  • bedaurebbedaure · bdeaure · beadure · bedarue · bedauer · bedaurre · beddaure · beduare

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bedauern" and "bedaure" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈdaʊ̯ɐn] versus [bəˈdaʊ̯ʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "bedauern" or "bedaure" show up more?
"bedauern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,240 in our German list, against #38,626 for "bedaure". 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 "bedauern" and "bedaure" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bedauern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bedaure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,232,660 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bedauern" and "bedaure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bedaure vs Bedburg". 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 #1,232,660 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