bemühtvsberuhteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,770
“bemüht” frequency rank
#28,096
“beruhte” frequency rank
32866
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bemüht beruhte
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bemühen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs beruhen

Where the eye mixes bemüht and beruhte

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

6 ch
bemüht
7 ch
beruhte

Visual trap between bemüht and beruhte

A purely visual mix-up. bemüht ([bəˈmyːt]) and beruhte ([bəˈʁuːtə]) 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 32866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bemüht is recorded at frequency rank #4,770, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈmyːt]. beruhte is at rank #28,096, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁuːtə].

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 32866, this pair ranks #1,698,328 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bemüht vs beruhte

Shared letters: beht. Private to "bemüht": mü. Private to "beruhte": ru.

"bemüht" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "beruhte" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beruhte ← bberuhte · berhute · berruhte · beruhet · beruhhte · beruhtte · beruthe · beurhte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bemüht" and "beruhte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈmyːt] versus [bəˈʁuːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bemüht" vs "beruhte" - which ranks higher?
"bemüht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,770 in our German list, against #28,096 for "beruhte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bemüht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beruhte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,698,328 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bemüht" and "beruhte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "berührten vs beruhte". 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 #1,698,328 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