Which to use
“befassen” and “belassen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,441
- “befassen” frequency rank
- #12,031
- “belassen” frequency rank
- 19472
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | befassen | belassen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich mit etwas stark auseinandersetzen/beschäftigen | etwas unangetastet, unverändert lassen |
Where the eye mixes befassen and belassen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. befassen and belassen 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 befassen with belassen
A purely visual mix-up. befassen ([bəˈfasn̩]) and belassen ([bəˈlasn̩]) 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 a single letter - f in “befassen” becomes l in “belassen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
befassen is recorded at frequency rank #7,441, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈfasn̩]. belassen is at rank #12,031, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈlasn̩].
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 19472, this pair ranks #1,907,990 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of befassen vs belassen
Shared letters: abens. Private to "befassen": f. Private to "belassen": l.
"befassen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "belassen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "befassen" and "belassen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "befassen" or "belassen" 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 "befassen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "belassen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,907,990 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "befassen" and "belassen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "belassen vs blasser". 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 #1,907,990 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.