berufen vs besaufen, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#3,563
“berufen” frequency rank: #45,169
“besaufen” frequency rank: 48732
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	berufen	besaufen
Definition	besonders/mehr als andere fähig/geeignet für Aufgabe oder Amt	Alkohol zu sich nehmen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set berufen and besaufen apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

berufen

8 ch

besaufen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: berufen is [bəˈʁuːfn̩] while besaufen is [bəˈzaʊ̯fn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48732, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

berufen is recorded at frequency rank #3,563, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʁuːfn̩]. besaufen is at rank #45,169, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈzaʊ̯fn̩].

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 48732, this pair ranks #1,237,740 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of berufen vs besaufen

Shared letters: befnu. Private to "berufen": r. Private to "besaufen": as.

"berufen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "besaufen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

berufen ← bberufen · berfuen · berrufen · beruefn · berufenn · beruffen · berufne · beurfen
besaufen ← bbesaufen · beasufen · besafuen · besauefn · besaufenn · besauffen · besaufne · bessaufen

Frequency comparison

berufen#3,563

besaufen#45,169

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "berufen" and "besaufen" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "berufen" is an adjective and "besaufen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "berufen" or "besaufen"?

"berufen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,563 in our German list, against #45,169 for "besaufen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering berufen vs besaufen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “berufen”; for a verb, it's “besaufen”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “berufen” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable