BewerbvsbewerbenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Bewerb is a noun, bewerben is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Bewerb” is a noun and “bewerben” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,707
“Bewerb” frequency rank
#4,964
“bewerben” frequency rank
46671
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bewerb bewerben
Definition sportlicher Wettbewerb sich (um etwas/jemanden) bemühen; (nach etwas) streben; versuchen, jemandes Gunst ( die Gunst einer Geliebten) zu erlangen

Where the eye mixes Bewerb and bewerben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Bewerb runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against bewerben's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Bewerb
8 ch
bewerben

Visual trap between Bewerb and bewerben

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bewerb is [bəˈvɛʁp] while bewerben is [bəˈvɛʁbn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Bewerb” sits inside “bewerben”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46671, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bewerb is recorded at frequency rank #41,707, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈvɛʁp]. bewerben is at rank #4,964, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈvɛʁbn̩].

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 46671, this pair ranks #1,311,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Bewerb vs bewerben

Shared letters: berw. Private to "Bewerb": -. Private to "bewerben": n.

"Bewerb" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "bewerben" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bewerbbbewerb · beewrb · bewebr · bewerbb · bewerrb · bewreb · bewwerb · bweerb
  • bewerbenbbewerben · beewrben · bewebren · bewerbben · bewerbenn · bewerbne · bewerebn · bewerrben

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Bewerb" for "bewerben" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Bewerb" is a noun and "bewerben" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Bewerb" vs "bewerben" - which ranks higher?
"bewerben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,964 in our German list, against #41,707 for "Bewerb". 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 "Bewerb" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bewerben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,311,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bewerb" and "bewerben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bewerb vs bewirb". 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 #1,311,073 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