BeilagenvsbelangenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#28,554
“Beilagen” frequency rank
#17,528
“belangen” frequency rank
46082
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Beilagen belangen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Beilage zur Rechenschaft ziehen

Where the eye mixes Beilagen and belangen

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

8 ch
Beilagen
8 ch
belangen

Why the eye confuses Beilagen with belangen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Beilagen is [ˈbaɪ̯ˌlaːɡn̩] while belangen is [bəˈlaŋən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46082, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Beilagen is recorded at frequency rank #28,554, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbaɪ̯ˌlaːɡn̩]. belangen is at rank #17,528, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈlaŋən].

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 46082, this pair ranks #1,331,222 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Beilagen vs belangen

Shared letters: abegln. Private to "Beilagen": i. Private to "belangen": -.

"Beilagen" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC  ·  "belangen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Beilagenbbeilagen · beialgen · beilaegn · beilagenn · beilaggen · beilagne · beilgaen · beillagen
  • belangenbbelangen · bealngen · belagnen · belanegn · belangenn · belanggen · belangne · belanngen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Beilagen" for "belangen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Beilagen" is a noun and "belangen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Beilagen" or "belangen" show up more?
"belangen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,528 in our German list, against #28,554 for "Beilagen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Beilagen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "belangen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,331,222 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Beilagen" and "belangen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Beilagen vs beilegen". 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 #1,331,222 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