Which to use
“belehren” and “berühren” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,151
- “belehren” frequency rank
- #6,512
- “berühren” frequency rank
- 25663
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | belehren | berühren |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | jemandem eine wichtige Information geben | mit dem Äußeren seines Körpers mit einer Sache oder einer Person in Kontakt kommen |
Where the eye mixes belehren and berühren
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. belehren and berühren follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses belehren with berühren
A purely visual mix-up. belehren ([bəˈleːʁən]) and berühren ([bəˈʁyːʁən]) 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 25663, 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]. berühren is at rank #6,512, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁyːʁən].
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 25663, this pair ranks #1,829,881 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of belehren vs berühren
Shared letters: behnr. Private to "belehren": l. Private to "berühren": ü.
"belehren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "berühren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- belehren ← bbelehren · beelhren · belehern · belehhren · belehrenn · belehrne · belehrren · belerhen
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "belehren" and "berühren" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "belehren" or "berühren" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "belehren" and "berühren" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "belehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "berühren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,829,881 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "belehren" and "berühren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "berühren vs berührende". 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 #1,829,881 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.