beschwerenvsbeschwörenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#6,769
“beschweren” frequency rank
#28,098
“beschwören” frequency rank
34867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beschweren beschwören
Definition etwas schwerer machen eine Aussage durch einen Schwur bekräftigen

Where the eye mixes beschweren and beschwören

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. beschweren and beschwören follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
beschweren
10 ch
beschwören

Why the eye confuses beschweren with beschwören

A purely visual mix-up. beschweren ([bəˈʃveːʁən]) and beschwören ([bəˈʃvøːʁən]) 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 - e in “beschweren” becomes ö in “beschwören”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beschweren is recorded at frequency rank #6,769, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʃveːʁən]. beschwören is at rank #28,098, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʃvøːʁən].

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 34867, this pair ranks #1,653,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beschweren vs beschwören

Shared letters: bcehnrsw. Private to "beschweren": -. Private to "beschwören": ö.

"beschweren" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVCVC  ·  "beschwören" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beschwerenbbeschweren · becshweren · bescchweren · beschewren · beschhweren · beschweern · beschwerenn · beschwerne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "beschweren" for "beschwören" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈʃveːʁən] versus [bəˈʃvøːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "beschweren" vs "beschwören" - which ranks higher?
"beschweren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,769 in our German list, against #28,098 for "beschwören". 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 "beschweren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beschwören" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,653,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beschweren" and "beschwören" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beschwere vs beschwören". 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 #1,653,489 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