Which to use
“begehren” is a verb and “begehrte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,828
- “begehren” frequency rank
- #22,270
- “begehrte” frequency rank
- 41098
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | begehren | begehrte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nach jemandem oder etwas großes (sexuelles) Verlangen haben, jemanden oder etwas sehr gern haben wollen | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs begehrt |
Where the eye mixes begehren and begehrte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. begehren (CVCVCCVC) and begehrte (CVCVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses begehren with begehrte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: begehren is [bəˈɡeːʁən] while begehrte is [bəˈɡeːɐ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
begehren is recorded at frequency rank #18,828, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡeːʁən]. begehrte is at rank #22,270, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈɡeːɐ̯tə].
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 41098, this pair ranks #1,489,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of begehren vs begehrte
Shared letters: beghr. Private to "begehren": n. Private to "begehrte": t.
"begehren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "begehrte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "begehren" for "begehrte" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "begehren" or "begehrte" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "begehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "begehrte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,489,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "begehren" and "begehrte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begehrte vs bewerte". 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 #1,489,418 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.