berührenvsberührtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,512
“berühren” frequency rank
#4,329
“berührt” frequency rank
10841
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature berühren berührt
Definition mit dem Äußeren seines Körpers mit einer Sache oder einer Person in Kontakt kommen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs berühren

Where the eye mixes berühren and berührt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
berühren
7 ch
berührt

Why the eye confuses berühren with berührt

A purely visual mix-up. berühren ([bəˈʁyːʁən]) and berührt ([bəˈʁyːɐ̯t]) 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 10841, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

berühren is recorded at frequency rank #6,512, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁyːʁən]. berührt is at rank #4,329, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁyːɐ̯t].

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 10841, this pair ranks #1,973,053 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of berühren vs berührt

Shared letters: behrü. Private to "berühren": n. Private to "berührt": t.

"berühren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "berührt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "berühren" and "berührt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈʁyːʁən] versus [bəˈʁyːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "berühren" vs "berührt" - which ranks higher?
"berührt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,329 in our German list, against #6,512 for "berühren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "berühren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "berührt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,973,053 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "berühren" and "berührt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "berühren vs berührende". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,973,053 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