begreifevsBegriffeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: begreife is a verb, Begriffe is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“begreife” is a verb and “Begriffe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,945
“begreife” frequency rank
#4,183
“Begriffe” frequency rank
35128
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature begreife Begriffe
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs begreifen Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Begriff

Where the eye mixes begreife and Begriffe

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

8 ch
begreife
8 ch
Begriffe

Why the eye confuses begreife with Begriffe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: begreife is [bəˈɡʁaɪ̯fə] while Begriffe is [bəˈɡʁɪfə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35128, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

begreife is recorded at frequency rank #30,945, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈɡʁaɪ̯fə]. Begriffe is at rank #4,183, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəˈɡʁɪfə].

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 35128, this pair ranks #1,647,403 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of begreife vs Begriffe

Shared letters: befgir. Private to "begreife": -. Private to "Begriffe": -.

"begreife" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV  ·  "Begriffe" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • begreifebbegreife · begerife · beggreife · begrefie · begreief · begreiffe · begriefe · begrreife
  • Begriffebbegriffe · beggriffe · begirffe · begrfife · begrife · begrifef · begrriffe · bergiffe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "begreife" and "Begriffe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "begreife" is a verb and "Begriffe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "begreife" vs "Begriffe" - which ranks higher?
"Begriffe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,183 in our German list, against #30,945 for "begreife". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "begreife" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Begriffe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,647,403 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "begreife" and "Begriffe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begleite vs begreife". 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 #1,647,403 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