Which to use
“behalten” and “beharren” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,017
- “behalten” frequency rank
- #28,553
- “beharren” frequency rank
- 30570
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | behalten | beharren |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | im Besitz einer Sache bleiben | bezogen auf Meinung, Entschluss: etwas nicht aufgeben, hartnäckig an etwas festhalten, in etwas nicht nachgeben |
Where the eye mixes behalten and beharren
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. behalten and beharren follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between behalten and beharren
A purely visual mix-up. behalten ([bəˈhaltn̩]) and beharren ([bəˈhaʁən]) 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 30570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
behalten is recorded at frequency rank #2,017, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈhaltn̩]. beharren is at rank #28,553, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈhaʁən].
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 30570, this pair ranks #1,745,213 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of behalten vs beharren
Shared letters: abehn. Private to "behalten": lt. Private to "beharren": r.
"behalten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "beharren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "behalten" for "beharren" ever safe?
Which is more common, "behalten" or "beharren"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "behalten" and "beharren" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "behalten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "beharren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,745,213 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "behalten" and "beharren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beharren vs beirren". 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 #1,745,213 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.