begannenvsbeginnendTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,804
“begannen” frequency rank
#15,832
“beginnend” frequency rank
21636
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature begannen beginnend
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs beginnen Partizip Präsens des Verbs beginnen

Where the eye mixes begannen and beginnend

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. begannen runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against beginnend's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
begannen
9 ch
beginnend

Look-alike desk: begannen vs beginnend

A purely visual mix-up. begannen ([bəˈɡanən]) and beginnend ([bəˈɡɪnənt]) 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 21636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

begannen is recorded at frequency rank #5,804, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡanən]. beginnend is at rank #15,832, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡɪnənt].

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 21636, this pair ranks #1,883,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of begannen vs beginnend

Shared letters: begn. Private to "begannen": a. Private to "beginnend": di.

"begannen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "beginnend" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • begannenbbegannen · beagnnen · beganen · beganenn · begannenn · begannne · beggannen · begnanen
  • beginnendbbeginnend · begginnend · beginend · beginennd · beginnedn · beginnendd · beginnennd · beginnned

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "begannen" and "beginnend" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈɡanən] versus [bəˈɡɪnənt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "begannen" or "beginnend"?
"begannen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,804 in our German list, against #15,832 for "beginnend". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "begannen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beginnend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,883,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "begannen" and "beginnend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begingen vs beginnend". 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 #1,883,909 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