beharrenvsbeharrtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,553
“beharren” frequency rank
#31,951
“beharrt” frequency rank
60504
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beharren beharrt
Definition bezogen auf Meinung, Entschluss: etwas nicht aufgeben, hartnäckig an etwas festhalten, in etwas nicht nachgeben Partizip Perfekt des Verbs beharren

Where the eye mixes beharren and beharrt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
beharren
7 ch
beharrt

Visual trap between beharren and beharrt

A purely visual mix-up. beharren ([bəˈhaʁən]) and beharrt ([bəˈhaʁt]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60504, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beharren is recorded at frequency rank #28,553, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈhaʁən]. beharrt is at rank #31,951, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈhaʁt].

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 60504, this pair ranks #784,554 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of beharren vs beharrt

Shared letters: abehr. Private to "beharren": n. Private to "beharrt": t.

"beharren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "beharrt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beharrenbbeharren · beahrren · beharen · beharern · beharrenn · beharrne · behharren · behraren
  • beharrtbbeharrt · beahrrt · beharrtt · behartr · behharrt · behrart · bhearrt · ebharrt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "beharren" for "beharrt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈhaʁən] versus [bəˈhaʁt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "beharren" vs "beharrt" - which ranks higher?
"beharren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,553 in our German list, against #31,951 for "beharrt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "beharren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beharrt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #784,554 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beharren" and "beharrt" 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 #784,554 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