betratvsbetrübtWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#15,314
“betrat” frequency rank
#32,953
“betrübt” frequency rank
48267
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature betrat betrübt
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs betreten niedergeschlagen, traurig

Where the eye mixes betrat and betrübt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. betrat runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against betrübt's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
betrat
7 ch
betrübt

Look-alike desk: betrat vs betrübt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: betrat is [bəˈtʁaːt] while betrübt is [bəˈtʁyːpt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

betrat is recorded at frequency rank #15,314, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈtʁaːt]. 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 48267, this pair ranks #1,254,832 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of betrat vs betrübt

Shared letters: bert. Private to "betrat": a. Private to "betrübt": ü.

"betrat" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "betrübt" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • betratbbetrat · bertat · betart · betratt · betrrat · betrta · bettrat · bterat

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "betrat" and "betrübt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "betrat" is a verb and "betrübt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "betrat" or "betrübt" show up more?
"betrat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,314 in our German list, against #32,953 for "betrübt". 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 "betrat" 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 #1,254,832 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "betrat" and "betrübt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "betrübt vs Betrugs". 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 #1,254,832 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