berichtigtvsberüchtigtWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: berichtigt is a verb, berüchtigt is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“berichtigt” is a verb and “berüchtigt” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,695
“berichtigt” frequency rank
#35,100
“berüchtigt” frequency rank
76795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature berichtigt berüchtigt
Definition Partizip Perfekt Passiv des Verbs berichtigen übel beleumdet, für schlechte Eigenschaften oder Taten bekannt

Where the eye mixes berichtigt and berüchtigt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. berichtigt and berüchtigt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
berichtigt
10 ch
berüchtigt

Look-alike desk: berichtigt vs berüchtigt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: berichtigt is [bəˈʁɪçtɪçt] while berüchtigt is [bəˈʁʏçtɪçt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “berichtigt” becomes ü in “berüchtigt”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

berichtigt is recorded at frequency rank #41,695, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁɪçtɪçt]. berüchtigt is at rank #35,100, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʁʏçtɪçt].

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 76795, this pair ranks #275,554 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of berichtigt vs berüchtigt

Shared letters: bceghirt. Private to "berichtigt": -. Private to "berüchtigt": ü.

"berichtigt" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCCVCC  ·  "berüchtigt" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • berichtigtbberichtigt · beirchtigt · bercihtigt · bericchtigt · berichhtigt · berichitgt · berichtgit · berichtiggt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "berichtigt" for "berüchtigt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "berichtigt" is a verb and "berüchtigt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "berichtigt" or "berüchtigt" show up more?
"berüchtigt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,100 in our German list, against #41,695 for "berichtigt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "berichtigt" and "berüchtigt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "berichtigt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "berüchtigt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #275,554 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "berichtigt" and "berüchtigt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "berichtigen vs berichtigt". 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 #275,554 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