bereistvsbereutWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,097
“bereist” frequency rank
#14,753
“bereut” frequency rank
49850
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bereist bereut
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bereisen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bereuen

Where the eye mixes bereist and bereut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. bereist runs 7 letters (CVCVVCC) against bereut's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
bereist
6 ch
bereut

Why the eye confuses bereist with bereut

A purely visual mix-up. bereist ([bəˈʁaɪ̯st]) and bereut ([bəˈʁɔɪ̯t]) 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 49850, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bereist is recorded at frequency rank #35,097, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁaɪ̯st]. bereut is at rank #14,753, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁɔɪ̯t].

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 49850, this pair ranks #1,195,997 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bereist vs bereut

Shared letters: bert. Private to "bereist": is. Private to "bereut": u.

"bereist" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "bereut" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bereist ← bbereist · beerist · bereisst · bereistt · beresit · beriest · berreist · breeist
  • bereut ← bbereut · beerut · beretu · bereutt · berreut · beruet · breeut · ebreut

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bereist" and "bereut" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈʁaɪ̯st] versus [bəˈʁɔɪ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bereist" or "bereut"?
"bereut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,753 in our German list, against #35,097 for "bereist". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bereist" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bereut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,195,997 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bereist" and "bereut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bereist vs bewegst". 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 #1,195,997 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