begehrtvsberührtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: begehrt is a adjective, berührt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“begehrt” is an adjective and “berührt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,820
“begehrt” frequency rank
#4,329
“berührt” frequency rank
16149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature begehrt berührt
Definition eine von vielen verlangte Person oder Sache Partizip Perfekt des Verbs berühren

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set begehrt and berührt apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
begehrt
7 ch
berührt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: begehrt is [bəˈɡeːɐ̯t] while berührt is [bəˈʁyːɐ̯t]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

begehrt is recorded at frequency rank #11,820, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈɡeːɐ̯t]. berührt is at rank #4,329, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁyːɐ̯t].

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 16149, this pair ranks #1,938,177 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of begehrt vs berührt

Shared letters: behrt. Private to "begehrt": g. Private to "berührt": ü.

"begehrt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "berührt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • begehrtbbegehrt · beeghrt · begehhrt · begehrrt · begehrtt · begehtr · begerht · beggehrt

Frequency comparison

begehrt#11,820
berührt#4,329

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "begehrt" and "berührt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "begehrt" is an adjective and "berührt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "begehrt" or "berührt"?
"berührt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,329 in our German list, against #11,820 for "begehrt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering begehrt vs berührt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “begehrt”; for a verb, it's “berührt”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “begehrt” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list