BedenkenvsbemerkenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#2,873
“Bedenken” frequency rank
#8,838
“bemerken” frequency rank
11711
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bedenken bemerken
Definition das Erwägen von etwas, das Nachdenken über etwas zu Bewusstsein kommen; etwas wahrnehmen

Where the eye mixes Bedenken and bemerken

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

8 ch
Bedenken
8 ch
bemerken

Why the eye confuses Bedenken with bemerken

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bedenken is [bəˈdɛŋkn̩] while bemerken is [bəˈmɛʁkn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bedenken is recorded at frequency rank #2,873, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈdɛŋkn̩]. bemerken is at rank #8,838, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈmɛʁkn̩].

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 11711, this pair ranks #1,968,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bedenken vs bemerken

Shared letters: bekn. Private to "Bedenken": d. Private to "bemerken": mr.

"Bedenken" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "bemerken" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bedenken ← bbedenken · bdeenken · beddenken · bedeknen · bedenekn · bedenkenn · bedenkken · bedenkne
  • bemerken ← bbemerken · beemrken · bemekren · bemerekn · bemerkenn · bemerkken · bemerkne · bemerrken

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Bedenken" and "bemerken" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Bedenken" is a noun and "bemerken" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Bedenken" or "bemerken" show up more?
"Bedenken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,873 in our German list, against #8,838 for "bemerken". 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 "Bedenken" and "bemerken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bedenken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bemerken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,968,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bedenken" and "bemerken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bemerken vs bewerfen". 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 #1,968,353 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