bereuevsbetreuenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,577
“bereue” frequency rank
#12,678
“betreuen” frequency rank
28255
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bereue betreuen
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bereuen jemanden versorgen, beaufsichtigen und sich um dessen Belange kümmern, da diese Person dies selbst nicht (mehr) kann

Where the eye mixes bereue and betreuen

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

6 ch
bereue
8 ch
betreuen

Visual trap between bereue and betreuen

A purely visual mix-up. bereue ([bəˈʁɔɪ̯ə]) and betreuen ([bəˈtʁɔɪ̯ən]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28255, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bereue is recorded at frequency rank #15,577, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁɔɪ̯ə]. betreuen is at rank #12,678, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈtʁɔɪ̯ən].

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 28255, this pair ranks #1,787,970 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bereue vs betreuen

Shared letters: beru. Private to "bereue": -. Private to "betreuen": nt.

"bereue" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV  ·  "betreuen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bereuebbereue · beerue · bereeu · berreue · beruee · breeue · ebreue
  • betreuenbbetreuen · berteuen · beteruen · betreeun · betreuenn · betreune · betrreuen · betrueen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bereue" for "betreuen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈʁɔɪ̯ə] versus [bəˈtʁɔɪ̯ən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bereue" or "betreuen"?
"betreuen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,678 in our German list, against #15,577 for "bereue". 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 "bereue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "betreuen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,787,970 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bereue" and "betreuen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begebe vs bereue". 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 #1,787,970 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