bedauernvsbefeuernWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,240
“bedauern” frequency rank
#44,473
“befeuern” frequency rank
54713
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bedauern befeuern
Definition jemanden bemitleiden, mit jemandem fühlen etwas mit Brennstoff versorgen, beheizen

Where the eye mixes bedauern and befeuern

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

8 ch
bedauern
8 ch
befeuern

Look-alike desk: bedauern vs befeuern

A purely visual mix-up. bedauern ([bəˈdaʊ̯ɐn]) and befeuern ([bəˈfɔɪ̯ɐn]) 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 54713, 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]. befeuern is at rank #44,473, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈfɔɪ̯ɐn].

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 54713, this pair ranks #1,008,075 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bedauern vs befeuern

Shared letters: benru. Private to "bedauern": ad. Private to "befeuern": f.

"bedauern" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVVCC  ·  "befeuern" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bedauernbbedauern · bdeauern · beaduern · bedaeurn · bedauenr · bedauernn · bedauerrn · bedauren
  • befeuernbbefeuern · beefuern · befeeurn · befeuenr · befeuernn · befeuerrn · befeuren · beffeuern

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bedauern" and "befeuern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈdaʊ̯ɐn] versus [bəˈfɔɪ̯ɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "bedauern" or "befeuern" show up more?
"bedauern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,240 in our German list, against #44,473 for "befeuern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bedauern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "befeuern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,008,075 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bedauern" and "befeuern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "befeuern vs besteuern". 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 #1,008,075 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