betonenvsbewogenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,294
“betonen” frequency rank
#30,478
“bewogen” frequency rank
37772
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature betonen bewogen
Definition beim Sprechen den Akzent auf eine Silbe legen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bewegen

Where the eye mixes betonen and bewogen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. betonen and bewogen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
betonen
7 ch
bewogen

Why the eye confuses betonen with bewogen

A purely visual mix-up. betonen ([bəˈtoːnən]) and bewogen ([bəˈvoːɡn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37772, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

betonen is recorded at frequency rank #7,294, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈtoːnən]. bewogen is at rank #30,478, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈvoːɡn̩].

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 37772, this pair ranks #1,581,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of betonen vs bewogen

Shared letters: beno. Private to "betonen": t. Private to "bewogen": gw.

"betonen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "bewogen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • betonen ← bbetonen · beotnen · betnoen · betoenn · betonenn · betonne · betonnen · bettonen
  • bewogen ← bbewogen · beowgen · bewgoen · bewoegn · bewogenn · bewoggen · bewogne · bewwogen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "betonen" for "bewogen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈtoːnən] versus [bəˈvoːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "betonen" vs "bewogen" - which ranks higher?
"betonen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,294 in our German list, against #30,478 for "bewogen". 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 "betonen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bewogen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,581,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "betonen" and "bewogen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bewegend vs bewogen". 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 #1,581,427 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