BegleitungvsBekleidungWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,344
“Begleitung” frequency rank
#15,040
“Bekleidung” frequency rank
20384
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Begleitung Bekleidung
Definition zusätzliche unterstützende Stimme in einer Melodie Stoffgewebe zum Tragen auf dem Körper

Where the eye mixes Begleitung and Bekleidung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. Begleitung and Bekleidung follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
Begleitung
10 ch
Bekleidung

Look-alike desk: Begleitung vs Bekleidung

A purely visual mix-up. Begleitung ([bəˈɡlaɪ̯tʊŋ]) and Bekleidung ([bəˈklaɪ̯dʊŋ]) 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 20384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Begleitung is recorded at frequency rank #5,344, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈɡlaɪ̯tʊŋ]. Bekleidung is at rank #15,040, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəˈklaɪ̯dʊŋ].

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 20384, this pair ranks #1,898,276 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Begleitung vs Bekleidung

Shared letters: begilnu. Private to "Begleitung": t. Private to "Bekleidung": dk.

"Begleitung" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCC  ·  "Bekleidung" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Begleitung ← bbegleitung · begelitung · beggleitung · begleitnug · begleittung · begleitugn · begleitungg · begleitunng
  • Bekleidung ← bbekleidung · bekelidung · bekkleidung · beklediung · bekleiddung · bekleidnug · bekleidugn · bekleidungg

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Begleitung" and "Bekleidung" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈɡlaɪ̯tʊŋ] versus [bəˈklaɪ̯dʊŋ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Begleitung" or "Bekleidung"?
"Begleitung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,344 in our German list, against #15,040 for "Bekleidung". 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 "Begleitung" and "Bekleidung" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Begleitung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bekleidung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,898,276 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Begleitung" and "Bekleidung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bekleiden vs Bekleidung". 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 #1,898,276 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