beliebenvsbeziehenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,042
“belieben” frequency rank
#3,176
“beziehen” frequency rank
18218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature belieben beziehen
Definition Lust haben, etwas zu tun irgendwo einziehen

Where the eye mixes belieben and beziehen

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

8 ch
belieben
8 ch
beziehen

Visual trap between belieben and beziehen

A purely visual mix-up. belieben ([bəˈliːbn̩]) and beziehen ([bəˈt͡siːən]) 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 18218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

belieben is recorded at frequency rank #15,042, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈliːbn̩]. beziehen is at rank #3,176, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈt͡siːən].

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 18218, this pair ranks #1,920,325 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of belieben vs beziehen

Shared letters: bein. Private to "belieben": l. Private to "beziehen": hz.

"belieben" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "beziehen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • belieben ← bbelieben · beileben · beleiben · belibeen · beliebben · beliebenn · beliebne · belieebn
  • beziehen ← bbeziehen · beizehen · bezeihen · bezieehn · beziehenn · beziehhen · beziehne · beziheen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "belieben" and "beziehen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈliːbn̩] versus [bəˈt͡siːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "belieben" or "beziehen"?
"beziehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,176 in our German list, against #15,042 for "belieben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "belieben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beziehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,920,325 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "belieben" and "beziehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "belieben vs beliefern". 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 #1,920,325 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