bedrängenvsbefragenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#43,747
“bedrängen” frequency rank
#12,465
“befragen” frequency rank
56212
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bedrängen befragen
Definition drängend bedrücken um mehrere Auskünfte bitten; Fragen an jemanden stellen

Where the eye mixes bedrängen and befragen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. bedrängen runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against befragen's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
bedrängen
8 ch
befragen

Visual trap between bedrängen and befragen

A purely visual mix-up. bedrängen ([bəˈdʁɛŋən]) and befragen ([bəˈfʁaːɡn̩]) 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 56212, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bedrängen is recorded at frequency rank #43,747, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈdʁɛŋən]. befragen is at rank #12,465, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈfʁaːɡn̩].

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 56212, this pair ranks #949,008 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bedrängen vs befragen

Shared letters: begnr. Private to "bedrängen": . Private to "befragen": af.

"bedrängen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "befragen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • befragenbbefragen · befargen · beffragen · befraegn · befragenn · befraggen · befragne · befrgaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bedrängen" and "befragen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈdʁɛŋən] versus [bəˈfʁaːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bedrängen" or "befragen"?
"befragen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,465 in our German list, against #43,747 for "bedrängen". 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 "bedrängen" and "befragen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bedrängen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "befragen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #949,008 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bedrängen" and "befragen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bedrängen vs befangen". 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 #949,008 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