bemühevsbemühtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,560
“bemühe” frequency rank
#4,770
“bemüht” frequency rank
33330
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bemühe bemüht
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bemühen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bemühen

Where the eye mixes bemühe and bemüht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. bemühe (CVCVCV) and bemüht (CVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
bemühe
6 ch
bemüht

Look-alike desk: bemühe vs bemüht

A purely visual mix-up. bemühe ([bəˈmyːə]) and bemüht ([bəˈmyːt]) 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 - e in “bemühe” becomes t in “bemüht”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33330, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bemühe is recorded at frequency rank #28,560, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈmyːə]. bemüht is at rank #4,770, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈmyːt].

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 33330, this pair ranks #1,688,277 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bemühe vs bemüht

Shared letters: behmü. Private to "bemühe": -. Private to "bemüht": t.

"bemühe" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "bemüht" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bemühe" and "bemüht" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈmyːə] versus [bəˈmyːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bemühe" vs "bemüht" - which ranks higher?
"bemüht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,770 in our German list, against #28,560 for "bemühe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "bemühe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bemüht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,688,277 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bemühe" and "bemüht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "befuhr vs bemühe". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,688,277 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