begingenvsbeginneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,159
“begingen” frequency rank
#11,607
“beginne” frequency rank
56766
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature begingen beginne
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs begehen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs beginnen

Where the eye mixes begingen and beginne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
begingen
7 ch
beginne

Look-alike desk: begingen vs beginne

A purely visual mix-up. begingen ([bəˈɡɪŋən]) and beginne ([bəˈɡɪnə]) 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 56766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

begingen is recorded at frequency rank #45,159, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡɪŋən]. beginne is at rank #11,607, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡɪnə].

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 56766, this pair ranks #927,455 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of begingen vs beginne

Shared letters: begin. Private to "begingen": -. Private to "beginne": -.

"begingen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "beginne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • begingenbbegingen · beggingen · begignen · beginegn · begingenn · beginggen · begingne · beginngen
  • beginnebbeginne · begginne · begine · begnine · beignne · bgeinne · ebginne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "begingen" for "beginne" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈɡɪŋən] versus [bəˈɡɪnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "begingen" vs "beginne" - which ranks higher?
"beginne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,607 in our German list, against #45,159 for "begingen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "begingen" and "beginne" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "begingen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beginne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #927,455 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "begingen" and "beginne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begangene vs begingen". 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 #927,455 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