Which to use
“befahren” is an adjective and “beharren” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,748
- “befahren” frequency rank
- #28,553
- “beharren” frequency rank
- 43301
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | befahren | beharren |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mit Fahrzeugen benutzt | bezogen auf Meinung, Entschluss: etwas nicht aufgeben, hartnäckig an etwas festhalten, in etwas nicht nachgeben |
Where the eye mixes befahren and beharren
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. befahren and beharren follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses befahren with beharren
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: befahren is [bəˈfaːʁən] while beharren is [bəˈhaʁən]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43301, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
befahren is recorded at frequency rank #14,748, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈfaːʁən]. beharren is at rank #28,553, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈhaʁən].
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 43301, this pair ranks #1,422,354 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of befahren vs beharren
Shared letters: abehnr. Private to "befahren": f. Private to "beharren": -.
"befahren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "beharren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "befahren" and "beharren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "befahren" or "beharren" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "befahren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "beharren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,422,354 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "befahren" and "beharren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beharren vs beirren". 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 #1,422,354 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.