Which to use
“begehen” and “bemühen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,579
- “begehen” frequency rank
- #6,041
- “bemühen” frequency rank
- 13620
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | begehen | bemühen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ein Objekt beschreiten, um es zu inspizieren; auf etwas zu Fuß gehen | sich Mühe geben, sich anstrengen |
Where the eye mixes begehen and bemühen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. begehen and bemühen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses begehen with bemühen
A purely visual mix-up. begehen ([bəˈɡeːən]) and bemühen ([bəˈmyːən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
begehen is recorded at frequency rank #7,579, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡeːən]. bemühen is at rank #6,041, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈmyːən].
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 13620, this pair ranks #1,956,814 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of begehen vs bemühen
Shared letters: behn. Private to "begehen": g. Private to "bemühen": mü.
"begehen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "bemühen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- begehen ← bbegehen · beeghen · begeehn · begehenn · begehhen · begehne · beggehen · begheen
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "begehen" and "bemühen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "begehen" or "bemühen"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "begehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bemühen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,956,814 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "begehen" and "bemühen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begebe vs begehen". 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 #1,956,814 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.