BeerenvsbegehrenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#15,831
“Beeren” frequency rank
#18,828
“begehren” frequency rank
34659
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Beeren begehren
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Beere nach jemandem oder etwas großes (sexuelles) Verlangen haben, jemanden oder etwas sehr gern haben wollen

Where the eye mixes Beeren and begehren

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

6 ch
Beeren
8 ch
begehren

Look-alike desk: Beeren vs begehren

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Beeren is [ˈbeːʁən] while begehren is [bəˈɡeːʁən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Beeren is recorded at frequency rank #15,831, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbeːʁən]. begehren is at rank #18,828, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡeːʁən].

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 34659, this pair ranks #1,658,232 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Beeren vs begehren

Shared letters: benr. Private to "Beeren": -. Private to "begehren": gh.

"Beeren" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "begehren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Beeren ← bbeeren · beeern · beerenn · beerne · beerren · bereen · beren · eberen
  • begehren ← bbegehren · beeghren · begehern · begehhren · begehrenn · begehrne · begehrren · begerhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Beeren" for "begehren" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Beeren" is a noun and "begehren" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Beeren" or "begehren"?
"Beeren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,831 in our German list, against #18,828 for "begehren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Beeren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "begehren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,658,232 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Beeren" and "begehren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Beeren vs Bieres". 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 #1,658,232 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