begegnevsbegegnenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,657
“begegne” frequency rank
#5,146
“begegnen” frequency rank
40803
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature begegne begegnen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs begegnen jemanden, meist eher zufällig, treffen

Where the eye mixes begegne and begegnen

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

7 ch
begegne
8 ch
begegnen

Why the eye confuses begegne with begegnen

A purely visual mix-up. begegne ([bəˈɡeːɡnə]) and begegnen ([bəˈɡeːɡnən]) 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 extra letter(s) - “begegne” sits inside “begegnen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

begegne is recorded at frequency rank #35,657, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡeːɡnə]. begegnen is at rank #5,146, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡeːɡnən].

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 40803, this pair ranks #1,497,829 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of begegne vs begegnen

Shared letters: begn. Private to "begegne": -. Private to "begegnen": -.

"begegne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "begegnen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • begegnebbegegne · beeggne · begegen · begeggne · begenge · beggegne · beggene · bgeegne
  • begegnenbbegegnen · beeggnen · begegenn · begeggnen · begegnenn · begegnne · begegnnen · begengen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "begegne" for "begegnen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈɡeːɡnə] versus [bəˈɡeːɡnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "begegne" vs "begegnen" - which ranks higher?
"begegnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,146 in our German list, against #35,657 for "begegne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "begegne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "begegnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,497,829 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "begegne" and "begegnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begebe vs begegne". 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 #1,497,829 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