belehrenvsbelohnenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,151
“belehren” frequency rank
#18,833
“belohnen” frequency rank
37984
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature belehren belohnen
Definition jemandem eine wichtige Information geben jemandem für eine gute Handlung etwas geben, das er haben möchte

Where the eye mixes belehren and belohnen

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

8 ch
belehren
8 ch
belohnen

Why the eye confuses belehren with belohnen

A purely visual mix-up. belehren ([bəˈleːʁən]) and belohnen ([bəˈloːnən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

belehren is recorded at frequency rank #19,151, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈleːʁən]. belohnen is at rank #18,833, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈloːnən].

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 37984, this pair ranks #1,575,921 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of belehren vs belohnen

Shared letters: behln. Private to "belehren": r. Private to "belohnen": o.

"belehren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "belohnen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • belehrenbbelehren · beelhren · belehern · belehhren · belehrenn · belehrne · belehrren · belerhen
  • belohnenbbelohnen · belhonen · bellohnen · belohenn · belohhnen · belohnenn · belohnne · belohnnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "belehren" and "belohnen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈleːʁən] versus [bəˈloːnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "belehren" or "belohnen" show up more?
"belohnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,833 in our German list, against #19,151 for "belehren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "belehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "belohnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,575,921 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "belehren" and "belohnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beiwohnen vs belohnen". 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 #1,575,921 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