beginntvsbekenntWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#962
“beginnt” frequency rank
#14,248
“bekennt” frequency rank
15210
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beginnt bekennt
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs beginnen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bekennen

Where the eye mixes beginnt and bekennt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. beginnt and bekennt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
beginnt
7 ch
bekennt

Visual trap between beginnt and bekennt

A purely visual mix-up. beginnt ([bəˈɡɪnt]) and bekennt ([bəˈkɛnt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15210, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beginnt is recorded at frequency rank #962, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡɪnt]. bekennt is at rank #14,248, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈkɛnt].

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 15210, this pair ranks #1,945,571 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beginnt vs bekennt

Shared letters: bent. Private to "beginnt": gi. Private to "bekennt": k.

"beginnt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "bekennt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beginnt ← bbeginnt · begginnt · beginntt · begint · begintn · begnint · beignnt · bgeinnt
  • bekennt ← bbekennt · beeknnt · bekenntt · bekent · bekentn · bekkennt · beknent · bkeennt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "beginnt" and "bekennt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈɡɪnt] versus [bəˈkɛnt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "beginnt" or "bekennt" show up more?
"beginnt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #962 in our German list, against #14,248 for "bekennt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "beginnt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bekennt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,945,571 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beginnt" and "bekennt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bekenne vs bekennt". 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 #1,945,571 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