befreundetevsbegründeteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,550
“befreundete” frequency rank
#6,766
“begründete” frequency rank
35316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature befreundete begründete
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs befreundet Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs begründet

Where the eye mixes befreundete and begründete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. befreundete runs 11 letters (CVCCVVCCVCV) against begründete's 10 (CVCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
befreundete
10 ch
begründete

Look-alike desk: befreundete vs begründete

A purely visual mix-up. befreundete ([bəˈfʁɔɪ̯ndətə]) and begründete ([bəˈɡʁʏndətə]) 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 35316, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

befreundete is recorded at frequency rank #28,550, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈfʁɔɪ̯ndətə]. begründete is at rank #6,766, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈɡʁʏndətə].

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 35316, this pair ranks #1,642,883 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of befreundete vs begründete

Shared letters: bdenrt. Private to "befreundete": fu. Private to "begründete": gü.

"befreundete" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVCV  ·  "begründete" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • befreundete ← bbefreundete · beferundete · beffreundete · befrenudete · befreudnete · befreunddete · befreundeet · befreundette

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "befreundete" and "begründete" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈfʁɔɪ̯ndətə] versus [bəˈɡʁʏndətə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "befreundete" vs "begründete" - which ranks higher?
"begründete" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,766 in our German list, against #28,550 for "befreundete". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "befreundete" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "begründete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,642,883 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "befreundete" and "begründete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begründete vs bekundete". 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 #1,642,883 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