Which to use
“befangen” is an adjective and “begangen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,367
- “befangen” frequency rank
- #4,768
- “begangen” frequency rank
- 47135
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | befangen | begangen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nicht mehr neutral, sondern jemandem verpflichtet | Partizip Perfekt des Verbs begehen |
Where the eye mixes befangen and begangen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. befangen and begangen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between befangen and begangen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: befangen is [bəˈfaŋən] while begangen is [bəˈɡaŋən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - f in “befangen” becomes g in “begangen”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
befangen is recorded at frequency rank #42,367, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈfaŋən]. begangen is at rank #4,768, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡaŋən].
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 47135, this pair ranks #1,294,991 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of befangen vs begangen
Shared letters: abegn. Private to "befangen": f. Private to "begangen": -.
"befangen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "begangen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "befangen" and "begangen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "befangen" or "begangen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "befangen" and "begangen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "befangen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "begangen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,294,991 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "befangen" and "begangen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "befangen vs begangene". 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 #1,294,991 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.