belegenvsbelügenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,101
“belegen” frequency rank
#31,957
“belügen” frequency rank
36058
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature belegen belügen
Definition den Beweis für etwas erbringen jemandem eine Unwahrheit erzählen, bewusst Lügen verbreiten

Where the eye mixes belegen and belügen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. belegen and belügen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
belegen
7 ch
belügen

Visual trap between belegen and belügen

A purely visual mix-up. belegen ([bəˈleːɡn̩]) and belügen ([bəˈlyːɡn̩]) 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 a single letter - e in “belegen” becomes ü in “belügen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

belegen is recorded at frequency rank #4,101, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈleːɡn̩]. belügen is at rank #31,957, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈlyːɡn̩].

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 36058, this pair ranks #1,625,011 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of belegen vs belügen

Shared letters: begln. Private to "belegen": -. Private to "belügen": ü.

"belegen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "belügen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • belegen ← bbelegen · beelgen · beleegn · belegenn · beleggen · belegne · belgeen · bellegen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "belegen" for "belügen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈleːɡn̩] versus [bəˈlyːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "belegen" or "belügen" show up more?
"belegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,101 in our German list, against #31,957 for "belügen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "belegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "belügen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,625,011 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "belegen" and "belügen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "belügen vs Blusen". 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 #1,625,011 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