befahrenvsbewährtenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,748
“befahren” frequency rank
#17,536
“bewährten” frequency rank
32284
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature befahren bewährten
Definition mit Fahrzeugen benutzt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bewährt

Where the eye mixes befahren and bewährten

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

8 ch
befahren
9 ch
bewährten

Why the eye confuses befahren with bewährten

A purely visual mix-up. befahren ([bəˈfaːʁən]) and bewährten ([bəˈvɛːɐ̯tn̩]) 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 32284, 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]. bewährten is at rank #17,536, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈvɛːɐ̯tn̩].

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 32284, this pair ranks #1,710,916 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of befahren vs bewährten

Shared letters: behnr. Private to "befahren": af. Private to "bewährten": twä.

"befahren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "bewährten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • befahren ← bbefahren · beafhren · befahern · befahhren · befahrenn · befahrne · befahrren · befarhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "befahren" for "bewährten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈfaːʁən] versus [bəˈvɛːɐ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "befahren" or "bewährten"?
"befahren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,748 in our German list, against #17,536 for "bewährten". 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 "befahren" and "bewährten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "befahren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bewährten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,710,916 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "befahren" and "bewährten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "berührten vs bewährten". 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 #1,710,916 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