beim vs bekam, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“beim” is an abbrev and “bekam” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#113
“beim” frequency rank: #1,690
“bekam” frequency rank: 1803
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	beim	bekam
Definition	Zusammenfluss von Präposition und bestimmtem Artikel (Dativ): bei dem	1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs bekommen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set beim and bekam apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

beim

5 ch

bekam

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: beim is [baɪ̯m] while bekam is [bəˈkaːm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (abbrev vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beim is recorded at frequency rank #113, classified as anabbrev, pronounced [baɪ̯m]. bekam is at rank #1,690, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈkaːm].

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 1803, this pair ranks #2,003,706 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beim vs bekam

Shared letters: bem. Private to "beim": i. Private to "bekam": ak.

"beim" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "bekam" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

beim ← bbeim · beimm · bemi · biem · ebim
bekam ← bbekam · beakm · bekamm · bekkam · bekma · bkeam · ebkam

Frequency comparison

beim#113

bekam#1,690

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "beim" and "bekam" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "beim" is an abbrev and "bekam" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "beim" or "bekam"?

"beim" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #113 in our German list, against #1,690 for "bekam". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering beim vs bekam

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an abbrev, it's “beim”; for a verb, it's “bekam”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “beim” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable