beratenvsbereuenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,024
“beraten” frequency rank
#13,320
“bereuen” frequency rank
17344
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beraten bereuen
Definition einen Vorschlag dazu machen, was eine Person tun oder lassen kann Reue über etwas empfinden

Where the eye mixes beraten and bereuen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
beraten
7 ch
bereuen

Why the eye confuses beraten with bereuen

A purely visual mix-up. beraten ([bəˈʁaːtn̩]) and bereuen ([bəˈʁɔɪ̯ən]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17344, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beraten is recorded at frequency rank #4,024, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁaːtn̩]. bereuen is at rank #13,320, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁɔɪ̯ən].

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 17344, this pair ranks #1,928,209 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beraten vs bereuen

Shared letters: benr. Private to "beraten": at. Private to "bereuen": u.

"beraten" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "bereuen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beratenbberaten · bearten · beraetn · beratenn · beratne · beratten · berraten · bertaen
  • bereuenbbereuen · beeruen · bereeun · bereuenn · bereune · berreuen · berueen · breeuen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "beraten" for "bereuen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈʁaːtn̩] versus [bəˈʁɔɪ̯ən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "beraten" vs "bereuen" - which ranks higher?
"beraten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,024 in our German list, against #13,320 for "bereuen". 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 "beraten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bereuen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,928,209 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beraten" and "bereuen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "befeuern vs bereuen". 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 #1,928,209 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