bemühenvsBezügenTell them apart

Quick tell: bemühen is a verb, Bezügen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bemühen” is a verb and “Bezügen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,041
“bemühen” frequency rank
#34,554
“Bezügen” frequency rank
40595
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bemühen Bezügen
Definition sich Mühe geben, sich anstrengen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Bezug

Where the eye mixes bemühen and Bezügen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. bemühen and Bezügen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
bemühen
7 ch
Bezügen

Visual trap between bemühen and Bezügen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bemühen is [bəˈmyːən] while Bezügen is [bəˈt͡syːɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40595, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bemühen is recorded at frequency rank #6,041, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈmyːən]. Bezügen is at rank #34,554, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəˈt͡syːɡn̩].

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 40595, this pair ranks #1,503,968 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bemühen vs Bezügen

Shared letters: benü. Private to "bemühen": hm. Private to "Bezügen": gz.

"bemühen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "Bezügen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bemühen" for "Bezügen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bemühen" is a verb and "Bezügen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bemühen" or "Bezügen"?
"bemühen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,041 in our German list, against #34,554 for "Bezügen". 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 "bemühen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bezügen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,503,968 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bemühen" and "Bezügen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beulen vs Bezügen". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,503,968 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