Which to use
“bemalen” and “bemühen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,066
- “bemalen” frequency rank
- #6,041
- “bemühen” frequency rank
- 47107
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bemalen | bemühen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mit Malereien verzieren, dekorieren | sich Mühe geben, sich anstrengen |
Where the eye mixes bemalen and bemühen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. bemalen and bemühen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between bemalen and bemühen
A purely visual mix-up. bemalen ([bəˈmaːlən]) and bemühen ([bəˈmyːən]) 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 47107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bemalen is recorded at frequency rank #41,066, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈmaːlən]. bemühen is at rank #6,041, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈmyːən].
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 47107, this pair ranks #1,295,934 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bemalen vs bemühen
Shared letters: bemn. Private to "bemalen": al. Private to "bemühen": hü.
"bemalen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "bemühen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- bemalen ← bbemalen · beamlen · bemaeln · bemalenn · bemallen · bemalne · bemlaen · bemmalen
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bemalen" and "bemühen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "bemalen" or "bemühen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "bemalen" and "bemühen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bemalen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bemühen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,295,934 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bemalen" and "bemühen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "banalen vs bemalen". 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 #1,295,934 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.