berühmtenvsberührtenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,771
“berühmten” frequency rank
#47,258
“berührten” frequency rank
52029
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature berühmten berührten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs berühmt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs berührt

Where the eye mixes berühmten and berührten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. berühmten and berührten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
berühmten
9 ch
berührten

Visual trap between berühmten and berührten

A purely visual mix-up. berühmten ([bəˈʁyːmtn̩]) and berührten ([bəˈʁyːɐ̯tn̩]) 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 a single letter - m in “berühmten” becomes r in “berührten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52029, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

berühmten is recorded at frequency rank #4,771, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʁyːmtn̩]. berührten is at rank #47,258, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʁyːɐ̯tn̩].

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 52029, this pair ranks #1,112,695 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of berühmten vs berührten

Shared letters: behnrtü. Private to "berühmten": m. Private to "berührten": -.

"berühmten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "berührten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "berühmten" and "berührten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈʁyːmtn̩] versus [bəˈʁyːɐ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "berühmten" or "berührten" show up more?
"berühmten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,771 in our German list, against #47,258 for "berührten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "berühmten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "berührten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,112,695 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "berühmten" and "berührten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "berührend vs berührten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,112,695 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