Which to use
“befragen” and “besagen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,465
- “befragen” frequency rank
- #29,960
- “besagen” frequency rank
- 42425
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | befragen | besagen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | um mehrere Auskünfte bitten; Fragen an jemanden stellen | bedeuten, zum Ausdruck bringen, beinhalten |
Where the eye mixes befragen and besagen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. befragen runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against besagen's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: befragen vs besagen
A purely visual mix-up. befragen ([bəˈfʁaːɡn̩]) and besagen ([bəˈzaːɡn̩]) 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 42425, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
befragen is recorded at frequency rank #12,465, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈfʁaːɡn̩]. besagen is at rank #29,960, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈzaːɡn̩].
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 42425, this pair ranks #1,449,692 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of befragen vs besagen
Shared letters: abegn. Private to "befragen": fr. Private to "besagen": s.
"befragen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "besagen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "befragen" and "besagen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "befragen" or "besagen"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "befragen" and "besagen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "befragen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "besagen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,449,692 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "befragen" and "besagen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "besagen vs besagtem". 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 #1,449,692 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.