begingenvsbeginnenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,159
“begingen” frequency rank
#1,722
“beginnen” frequency rank
46881
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature begingen beginnen
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs begehen etwas in Gang setzen, etwas starten, etwas anfangen

Where the eye mixes begingen and beginnen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
begingen
8 ch
beginnen

Why the eye confuses begingen with beginnen

A purely visual mix-up. begingen ([bəˈɡɪŋən]) and beginnen ([bəˈɡɪnən]) 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 a single letter - g in “begingen” becomes n in “beginnen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46881, 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]. beginnen is at rank #1,722, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡɪnən].

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 46881, this pair ranks #1,303,714 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of begingen vs beginnen

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

"begingen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "beginnen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • begingenbbegingen · beggingen · begignen · beginegn · begingenn · beginggen · begingne · beginngen
  • beginnenbbeginnen · begginnen · beginen · beginenn · beginnenn · beginnne · begninen · beignnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "begingen" and "beginnen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈɡɪŋən] versus [bəˈɡɪnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "begingen" or "beginnen" show up more?
"beginnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,722 in our German list, against #45,159 for "begingen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "begingen" and "beginnen" 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 "beginnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,303,714 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "begingen" and "beginnen" 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 #1,303,714 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