begehenvsbenehmenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,579
“begehen” frequency rank
#7,291
“benehmen” frequency rank
14870
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature begehen benehmen
Definition ein Objekt beschreiten, um es zu inspizieren; auf etwas zu Fuß gehen sich verhalten, sich auf bestimmte Weise in der Umwelt zeigen

Where the eye mixes begehen and benehmen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. begehen runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against benehmen's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
begehen
8 ch
benehmen

Visual trap between begehen and benehmen

A purely visual mix-up. begehen ([bəˈɡeːən]) and benehmen ([bəˈneːmən]) 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 14870, 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]. benehmen is at rank #7,291, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈneːmən].

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 14870, this pair ranks #1,948,137 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of begehen vs benehmen

Shared letters: behn. Private to "begehen": g. Private to "benehmen": m.

"begehen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "benehmen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • begehen ← bbegehen · beeghen · begeehn · begehenn · begehhen · begehne · beggehen · begheen
  • benehmen ← bbenehmen · beenhmen · benehemn · benehhmen · benehmenn · benehmmen · benehmne · benemhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "begehen" and "benehmen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈɡeːən] versus [bəˈneːmən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "begehen" or "benehmen"?
"benehmen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,291 in our German list, against #7,579 for "begehen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "benehmen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,948,137 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "begehen" and "benehmen" 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 #1,948,137 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