BelegungvsBewegungWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,558
“Belegung” frequency rank
#1,069
“Bewegung” frequency rank
29627
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Belegung Bewegung
Definition Zuweisung oder Zuordnung eines Wertes, Konfiguration Zustand jenseits der Ruhe

Where the eye mixes Belegung and Bewegung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Belegung and Bewegung follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
Belegung
8 ch
Bewegung

Visual trap between Belegung and Bewegung

A purely visual mix-up. Belegung ([bəˈleːɡʊŋ]) and Bewegung ([bəˈveːɡʊŋ]) 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 - l in “Belegung” becomes w in “Bewegung”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29627, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Belegung is recorded at frequency rank #28,558, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈleːɡʊŋ]. Bewegung is at rank #1,069, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəˈveːɡʊŋ].

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 29627, this pair ranks #1,763,337 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Belegung vs Bewegung

Shared letters: begnu. Private to "Belegung": l. Private to "Bewegung": w.

"Belegung" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "Bewegung" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Belegung ← bbelegung · beelgung · beleggung · belegnug · belegugn · belegungg · belegunng · beleugng
  • Bewegung ← bbewegung · beewgung · beweggung · bewegnug · bewegugn · bewegungg · bewegunng · beweugng

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Belegung" for "Bewegung" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈleːɡʊŋ] versus [bəˈveːɡʊŋ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Belegung" or "Bewegung"?
"Bewegung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,069 in our German list, against #28,558 for "Belegung". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Belegung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bewegung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,763,337 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Belegung" and "Bewegung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Behebung vs Belegung". 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 #1,763,337 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