berührendvsBerührungTell them apart

Quick tell: berührend is a verb, Berührung is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“berührend” is a verb and “Berührung” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,056
“berührend” frequency rank
#9,513
“Berührung” frequency rank
52569
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature berührend Berührung
Definition Partizip Präsens des Verbs berühren Ereignis, wenn mehrere Dinge aneinandergeraten (auch abstrakt)

Where the eye mixes berührend and Berührung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. berührend and Berührung follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
berührend
9 ch
Berührung

Why the eye confuses berührend with Berührung

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: berührend is [bəˈʁyːʁənt] while Berührung is [bəˈʁyːʁʊŋ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52569, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

berührend is recorded at frequency rank #43,056, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʁyːʁənt]. Berührung is at rank #9,513, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəˈʁyːʁʊŋ].

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 52569, this pair ranks #1,091,678 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of berührend vs Berührung

Shared letters: behnrü. Private to "berührend": d. Private to "Berührung": gu.

"berührend" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "Berührung" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "berührend" and "Berührung" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "berührend" is a verb and "Berührung" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "berührend" or "Berührung" show up more?
"Berührung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,513 in our German list, against #43,056 for "berührend". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "berührend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Berührung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,091,678 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "berührend" and "Berührung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "berührend vs berührende". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,091,678 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