bemühevsberufeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#28,560
“bemühe” frequency rank
#7,016
“berufe” frequency rank
35576
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bemühe berufe
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bemühen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs berufen

Where the eye mixes bemühe and berufe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
bemühe
6 ch
berufe

Visual trap between bemühe and berufe

A purely visual mix-up. bemühe ([bəˈmyːə]) and berufe ([bəˈʁuːfə]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35576, 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]. berufe is at rank #7,016, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁuːfə].

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 35576, this pair ranks #1,636,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bemühe vs berufe

Shared letters: be. Private to "bemühe": hmü. Private to "berufe": fru.

"bemühe" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "berufe" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • berufebberufe · berfue · berrufe · beruef · beruffe · beurfe · breufe · ebrufe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bemühe" and "berufe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈmyːə] versus [bəˈʁuːfə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bemühe" or "berufe"?
"berufe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,016 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.

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 "bemühe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "berufe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,636,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bemühe" and "berufe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "befuhr vs bemühe". 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 #1,636,700 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