befragtevsbeklagteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,435
“befragte” frequency rank
#10,242
“beklagte” frequency rank
33677
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature befragte beklagte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs befragt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs beklagt

Where the eye mixes befragte and beklagte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. befragte and beklagte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
befragte
8 ch
beklagte

Visual trap between befragte and beklagte

A purely visual mix-up. befragte ([bəˈfʁaːktə]) and beklagte ([bəˈklaːktə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

befragte is recorded at frequency rank #23,435, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈfʁaːktə]. beklagte is at rank #10,242, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈklaːktə].

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 33677, this pair ranks #1,680,500 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of befragte vs beklagte

Shared letters: abegt. Private to "befragte": fr. Private to "beklagte": kl.

"befragte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "beklagte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • befragte ← bbefragte · befargte · beffragte · befraget · befraggte · befragtte · befratge · befrgate
  • beklagte ← bbeklagte · bekalgte · bekklagte · beklaget · beklaggte · beklagtte · beklatge · beklgate

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "befragte" and "beklagte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈfʁaːktə] versus [bəˈklaːktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "befragte" or "beklagte"?
"beklagte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,242 in our German list, against #23,435 for "befragte". 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 "befragte" and "beklagte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "befragte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beklagte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,680,500 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "befragte" and "beklagte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "befragte vs betrage". 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 #1,680,500 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