beruhenvsbrütenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,430
“beruhen” frequency rank
#32,973
“brüten” frequency rank
43403
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beruhen brüten
Definition auf etwas fußen, sich auf etwas stützen, in etwas begründet sein Eiern Wärme zuführen, um die Entwicklung des Nachwuchses zu gewährleisten

Where the eye mixes beruhen and brüten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. beruhen runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against brüten's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
beruhen
6 ch
brüten

Look-alike desk: beruhen vs brüten

A purely visual mix-up. beruhen ([bəˈʁuːən]) and brüten ([ˈbʁyːtn̩]) 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 43403, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beruhen is recorded at frequency rank #10,430, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁuːən]. brüten is at rank #32,973, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbʁyːtn̩].

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 43403, this pair ranks #1,419,245 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of beruhen vs brüten

Shared letters: benr. Private to "beruhen": hu. Private to "brüten": tü.

"beruhen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "brüten" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beruhen ← bberuhen · berhuen · berruhen · beruehn · beruhenn · beruhhen · beruhne · beurhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "beruhen" and "brüten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈʁuːən] versus [ˈbʁyːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "beruhen" or "brüten" show up more?
"beruhen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,430 in our German list, against #32,973 for "brüten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "beruhen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brüten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,419,245 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beruhen" and "brüten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Blusen vs brüten". 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 #1,419,245 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