Which to use
“begehren” is a verb and “begehrten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,828
- “begehren” frequency rank
- #19,839
- “begehrten” frequency rank
- 38667
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | begehren | begehrten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nach jemandem oder etwas großes (sexuelles) Verlangen haben, jemanden oder etwas sehr gern haben wollen | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs begehrt |
Where the eye mixes begehren and begehrten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. begehren runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against begehrten's 9 (CVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: begehren vs begehrten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: begehren is [bəˈɡeːʁən] while begehrten is [bəˈɡeːɐ̯tn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38667, 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]. begehrten is at rank #19,839, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈɡeːɐ̯tn̩].
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 38667, this pair ranks #1,557,847 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of begehren vs begehrten
Shared letters: beghnr. Private to "begehren": -. Private to "begehrten": t.
"begehren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "begehrten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "begehren" for "begehrten" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "begehren" or "begehrten" show up more?
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 "begehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "begehrten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,557,847 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "begehren" and "begehrten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begehrten vs berührten". 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 #1,557,847 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.