bedeckenvsBedenkenTell them apart

Quick tell: bedecken is a verb, Bedenken is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bedecken” is a verb and “Bedenken” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,182
“bedecken” frequency rank
#2,873
“Bedenken” frequency rank
24055
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bedecken Bedenken
Definition etwas über etwas/jemanden legen (oft zum Schutze vor zum Beispiel Kälte oder Blicken) das Erwägen von etwas, das Nachdenken über etwas

Where the eye mixes bedecken and Bedenken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. bedecken and Bedenken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
bedecken
8 ch
Bedenken

Look-alike desk: bedecken vs Bedenken

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bedecken is [bəˈdɛkn̩] while Bedenken is [bəˈdɛŋkn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “bedecken” becomes n in “Bedenken”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24055, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bedecken is recorded at frequency rank #21,182, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈdɛkn̩]. Bedenken is at rank #2,873, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəˈdɛŋkn̩].

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 24055, this pair ranks #1,852,951 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bedecken vs Bedenken

Shared letters: bdekn. Private to "bedecken": c. Private to "Bedenken": -.

"bedecken" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "Bedenken" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bedecken ← bbedecken · bdeecken · bedceken · beddecken · bedeccken · bedecekn · bedeckenn · bedeckken
  • Bedenken ← bbedenken · bdeenken · beddenken · bedeknen · bedenekn · bedenkenn · bedenkken · bedenkne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bedecken" for "Bedenken" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bedecken" is a verb and "Bedenken" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "bedecken" vs "Bedenken" - which ranks higher?
"Bedenken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,873 in our German list, against #21,182 for "bedecken". 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 "bedecken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bedenken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,852,951 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bedecken" and "Bedenken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bedecken vs bedeckten". 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 #1,852,951 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