begangenvsbegannenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,768
“begangen” frequency rank
#5,804
“begannen” frequency rank
10572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature begangen begannen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs begehen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs beginnen

Where the eye mixes begangen and begannen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
begangen
8 ch
begannen

Look-alike desk: begangen vs begannen

A purely visual mix-up. begangen ([bəˈɡaŋən]) and begannen ([bəˈɡanən]) 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 - g in “begangen” becomes n in “begannen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

begangen is recorded at frequency rank #4,768, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡaŋən]. begannen is at rank #5,804, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡanən].

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 10572, this pair ranks #1,974,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of begangen vs begannen

Shared letters: abegn. Private to "begangen": -. Private to "begannen": -.

"begangen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "begannen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • begangenbbegangen · beagngen · begagnen · beganegn · begangenn · beganggen · begangne · beganngen
  • begannenbbegannen · beagnnen · beganen · beganenn · begannenn · begannne · beggannen · begnanen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "begangen" and "begannen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈɡaŋən] versus [bəˈɡanən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "begangen" vs "begannen" - which ranks higher?
"begangen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,768 in our German list, against #5,804 for "begannen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "begangen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "begannen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,974,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "begangen" and "begannen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begangene vs begannen". 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 #1,974,484 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