Which to use
“begeben” and “begehren” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,638
- “begeben” frequency rank
- #18,828
- “begehren” frequency rank
- 25466
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | begeben | begehren |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | geschehen, sich ereignen | nach jemandem oder etwas großes (sexuelles) Verlangen haben, jemanden oder etwas sehr gern haben wollen |
Where the eye mixes begeben and begehren
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. begeben runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against begehren's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between begeben and begehren
A purely visual mix-up. begeben ([bəˈɡeːbn̩]) and begehren ([bəˈɡeːʁən]) 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 25466, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
begeben is recorded at frequency rank #6,638, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡeːbn̩]. begehren is at rank #18,828, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡeːʁən].
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 25466, this pair ranks #1,832,838 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of begeben vs begehren
Shared letters: begn. Private to "begeben": -. Private to "begehren": hr.
"begeben" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "begehren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "begeben" for "begehren" ever safe?
Frequency check: "begeben" vs "begehren" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "begeben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "begehren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,832,838 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "begeben" and "begehren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begebe vs begeben". 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 #1,832,838 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.