bereisenvsbereuenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#40,436
“bereisen” frequency rank
#13,320
“bereuen” frequency rank
53756
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bereisen bereuen
Definition eine Gegend, ein Land bei Besuchen (Reisen) erkunden Reue über etwas empfinden

Where the eye mixes bereisen and bereuen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. bereisen runs 8 letters (CVCVVCVC) against bereuen's 7 (CVCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
bereisen
7 ch
bereuen

Look-alike desk: bereisen vs bereuen

A purely visual mix-up. bereisen ([bəˈʁaɪ̯zn̩]) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53756, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bereisen is recorded at frequency rank #40,436, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁaɪ̯zn̩]. 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 53756, this pair ranks #1,045,476 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bereisen vs bereuen

Shared letters: benr. Private to "bereisen": is. Private to "bereuen": u.

"bereisen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "bereuen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bereisenbbereisen · beerisen · bereiesn · bereisenn · bereisne · bereissen · beresien · beriesen
  • bereuenbbereuen · beeruen · bereeun · bereuenn · bereune · berreuen · berueen · breeuen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bereisen" and "bereuen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈʁaɪ̯zn̩] versus [bəˈʁɔɪ̯ən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bereisen" vs "bereuen" - which ranks higher?
"bereuen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,320 in our German list, against #40,436 for "bereisen". 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 "bereisen" 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 #1,045,476 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bereisen" and "bereuen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bereden vs bereisen". 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 #1,045,476 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