belebenvsbelehrenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,523
“beleben” frequency rank
#19,151
“belehren” frequency rank
39674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beleben belehren
Definition jemand oder etwas zum Leben erwecken jemandem eine wichtige Information geben

Where the eye mixes beleben and belehren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. beleben runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against belehren's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
beleben
8 ch
belehren

Visual trap between beleben and belehren

A purely visual mix-up. beleben ([bəˈleːbn̩]) and belehren ([bəˈleːʁən]) 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 39674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beleben is recorded at frequency rank #20,523, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈleːbn̩]. belehren is at rank #19,151, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈleːʁən].

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 39674, this pair ranks #1,530,095 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beleben vs belehren

Shared letters: beln. Private to "beleben": -. Private to "belehren": hr.

"beleben" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "belehren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • belebenbbeleben · beelben · belbeen · belebben · belebenn · belebne · beleebn · belleben
  • belehrenbbelehren · beelhren · belehern · belehhren · belehrenn · belehrne · belehrren · belerhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "beleben" and "belehren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈleːbn̩] versus [bəˈleːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "beleben" vs "belehren" - which ranks higher?
"belehren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,151 in our German list, against #20,523 for "beleben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "beleben" and "belehren" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "beleben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "belehren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,530,095 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beleben" and "belehren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begebe vs beleben". 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 #1,530,095 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