bewahrevsbewahrenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,269
“bewahre” frequency rank
#4,868
“bewahren” frequency rank
29137
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bewahre bewahren
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bewahren etwas Positives auch in einer schwierigen Situation beibehalten

Where the eye mixes bewahre and bewahren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. bewahre runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against bewahren's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
bewahre
8 ch
bewahren

Visual trap between bewahre and bewahren

A purely visual mix-up. bewahre ([bəˈvaːʁə]) and bewahren ([bəˈvaːʁən]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “bewahre” sits inside “bewahren”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29137, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bewahre is recorded at frequency rank #24,269, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈvaːʁə]. bewahren is at rank #4,868, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈvaːʁən].

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 29137, this pair ranks #1,772,337 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bewahre vs bewahren

Shared letters: abehrw. Private to "bewahre": -. Private to "bewahren": n.

"bewahre" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "bewahren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bewahrebbewahre · beawhre · bewaher · bewahhre · bewahrre · bewarhe · bewhare · bewwahre
  • bewahrenbbewahren · beawhren · bewahern · bewahhren · bewahrenn · bewahrne · bewahrren · bewarhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bewahre" and "bewahren" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈvaːʁə] versus [bəˈvaːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "bewahre" or "bewahren" show up more?
"bewahren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,868 in our German list, against #24,269 for "bewahre". 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 "bewahre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bewahren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,772,337 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bewahre" and "bewahren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bewahre vs bewährtes". 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 #1,772,337 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