Which to use
“befahren” is an adjective and “belehren” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,748
- “befahren” frequency rank
- #19,151
- “belehren” frequency rank
- 33899
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | befahren | belehren |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mit Fahrzeugen benutzt | jemandem eine wichtige Information geben |
Where the eye mixes befahren and belehren
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. befahren and belehren follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: befahren vs belehren
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: befahren is [bəˈfaːʁən] while belehren is [bəˈleːʁən]. 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 33899, 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]. belehren is at rank #19,151, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈleːʁən].
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 33899, this pair ranks #1,675,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of befahren vs belehren
Shared letters: behnr. Private to "befahren": af. Private to "belehren": l.
"befahren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "belehren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "befahren" and "belehren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "befahren" or "belehren" 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 "belehren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,675,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "befahren" and "belehren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "befahren vs bejahen". 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 #1,675,565 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.