begabtvsbetäubtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,436
“begabt” frequency rank
#25,922
“betäubt” frequency rank
49358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature begabt betäubt
Definition Talent besitzend (mittels eines Betäubungsmittels oder Ähnliches) gegen Schmerzen unempfindlich gemacht oder in einen künstlichen Schlaf versetzt

Where the eye mixes begabt and betäubt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. begabt runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against betäubt's 7 (CVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
begabt
7 ch
betäubt

Why the eye confuses begabt with betäubt

A purely visual mix-up. begabt ([bəˈɡaːpt]) and betäubt ([bəˈtɔɪ̯pt]) 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 49358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

begabt is recorded at frequency rank #23,436, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈɡaːpt]. betäubt is at rank #25,922, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈtɔɪ̯pt].

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 49358, this pair ranks #1,214,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of begabt vs betäubt

Shared letters: bet. Private to "begabt": ag. Private to "betäubt": .

"begabt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "betäubt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • begabtbbegabt · beagbt · begabbt · begabtt · begatb · begbat · beggabt · bgeabt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "begabt" and "betäubt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈɡaːpt] versus [bəˈtɔɪ̯pt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "begabt" or "betäubt" show up more?
"begabt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,436 in our German list, against #25,922 for "betäubt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "begabt" and "betäubt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "begabt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "betäubt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,214,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "begabt" and "betäubt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begabt vs begebe". 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 #1,214,508 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