Which to use
“beharren” and “bewahren” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,553
- “beharren” frequency rank
- #4,868
- “bewahren” frequency rank
- 33421
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | beharren | bewahren |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | bezogen auf Meinung, Entschluss: etwas nicht aufgeben, hartnäckig an etwas festhalten, in etwas nicht nachgeben | etwas Positives auch in einer schwierigen Situation beibehalten |
Where the eye mixes beharren and bewahren
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. beharren and bewahren follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses beharren with bewahren
A purely visual mix-up. beharren ([bəˈhaʁən]) and bewahren ([bəˈvaːʁən]) 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 33421, 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]. bewahren is at rank #4,868, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈvaːʁən].
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 33421, this pair ranks #1,686,329 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of beharren vs bewahren
Shared letters: abehnr. Private to "beharren": -. Private to "bewahren": w.
"beharren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "bewahren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "beharren" and "bewahren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "beharren" or "bewahren" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "beharren" and "bewahren" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "beharren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bewahren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,686,329 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "beharren" and "bewahren" 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 #1,686,329 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.