beruhigenvsberührenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,878
“beruhigen” frequency rank
#6,512
“berühren” frequency rank
14390
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beruhigen berühren
Definition zur Ruhe bringen; ruhig machen mit dem Äußeren seines Körpers mit einer Sache oder einer Person in Kontakt kommen

Where the eye mixes beruhigen and berühren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. beruhigen runs 9 letters (CVCVCVCVC) against berühren's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
beruhigen
8 ch
berühren

Visual trap between beruhigen and berühren

A purely visual mix-up. beruhigen ([bəˈʁuːɪɡn̩]) and berühren ([bəˈʁyːʁən]) 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 14390, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beruhigen is recorded at frequency rank #7,878, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁuːɪɡn̩]. berühren is at rank #6,512, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁyːʁən].

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 14390, this pair ranks #1,951,534 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beruhigen vs berühren

Shared letters: behnr. Private to "beruhigen": giu. Private to "berühren": ü.

"beruhigen" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC  ·  "berühren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beruhigen ← bberuhigen · berhuigen · berruhigen · beruhgien · beruhhigen · beruhiegn · beruhigenn · beruhiggen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "beruhigen" and "berühren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈʁuːɪɡn̩] versus [bəˈʁyːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "beruhigen" or "berühren"?
"berühren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,512 in our German list, against #7,878 for "beruhigen". 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 "beruhigen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "berühren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,951,534 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beruhigen" and "berühren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beruhigen vs berührten". 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 #1,951,534 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