bemühevsberuhenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,560
“bemühe” frequency rank
#10,430
“beruhen” frequency rank
38990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bemühe beruhen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bemühen auf etwas fußen, sich auf etwas stützen, in etwas begründet sein

Where the eye mixes bemühe and beruhen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bemühe runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against beruhen's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
bemühe
7 ch
beruhen

Visual trap between bemühe and beruhen

A purely visual mix-up. bemühe ([bəˈmyːə]) and beruhen ([bəˈʁuːən]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38990, 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]. beruhen is at rank #10,430, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁuːən].

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 38990, this pair ranks #1,549,170 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bemühe vs beruhen

Shared letters: beh. Private to "bemühe": mü. Private to "beruhen": nru.

"bemühe" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "beruhen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beruhen ← bberuhen · berhuen · berruhen · beruehn · beruhenn · beruhhen · beruhne · beurhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bemühe" and "beruhen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈmyːə] versus [bəˈʁuːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bemühe" or "beruhen"?
"beruhen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,430 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

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bemühe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beruhen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,549,170 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bemühe" and "beruhen" 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 #1,549,170 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