beträgtvsbetrübtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: beträgt is a unknown, betrübt is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“beträgt” is an unknown and “betrübt” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,656
“beträgt” frequency rank
#32,953
“betrübt” frequency rank
34609
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beträgt betrübt
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv von betragen niedergeschlagen, traurig

Where the eye mixes beträgt and betrübt

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

7 ch
beträgt
7 ch
betrübt

Look-alike desk: beträgt vs betrübt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: beträgt is [bəˈtʁɛːkt] while betrübt is [bəˈtʁyːpt]. 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 (unknown vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34609, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beträgt is recorded at frequency rank #1,656, classified as anunknown, pronounced [bəˈtʁɛːkt]. betrübt is at rank #32,953, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈtʁyːpt].

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 34609, this pair ranks #1,659,343 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beträgt vs betrübt

Shared letters: bert. Private to "beträgt": . Private to "betrübt": ü.

"beträgt" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "betrübt" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "beträgt" and "betrübt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "beträgt" is an unknown and "betrübt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "beträgt" or "betrübt"?
"beträgt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,656 in our German list, against #32,953 for "betrübt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "beträgt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "betrübt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,659,343 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beträgt" and "betrübt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "betrübt vs Betrugs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,659,343 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