BewerbungvsBewerbungenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,571
“Bewerbung” frequency rank
#8,688
“Bewerbungen” frequency rank
14259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bewerbung Bewerbungen
Definition Handlung, mit der man sich um etwas bemüht, das man erreichen/haben möchte Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Bewerbung

Where the eye mixes Bewerbung and Bewerbungen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. Bewerbung runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCC) against Bewerbungen's 11 (CVCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
Bewerbung
11 ch
Bewerbungen

Why the eye confuses Bewerbung with Bewerbungen

A purely visual mix-up. Bewerbung ([bəˈvɛʁbʊŋ]) and Bewerbungen ([bəˈvɛʁbʊŋən]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Bewerbung” sits inside “Bewerbungen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bewerbung is recorded at frequency rank #5,571, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈvɛʁbʊŋ]. Bewerbungen is at rank #8,688, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəˈvɛʁbʊŋən].

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 14259, this pair ranks #1,952,473 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bewerbung vs Bewerbungen

Shared letters: begnruw. Private to "Bewerbung": -. Private to "Bewerbungen": -.

"Bewerbung" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "Bewerbungen" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bewerbung ← bbewerbung · beewrbung · bewebrung · bewerbbung · bewerbnug · bewerbugn · bewerbungg · bewerbunng
  • Bewerbungen ← bbewerbungen · beewrbungen · bewebrungen · bewerbbungen · bewerbnugen · bewerbugnen · bewerbunegn · bewerbungenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Bewerbung" for "Bewerbungen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈvɛʁbʊŋ] versus [bəˈvɛʁbʊŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Bewerbung" vs "Bewerbungen" - which ranks higher?
"Bewerbung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,571 in our German list, against #8,688 for "Bewerbungen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bewerbung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bewerbungen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,952,473 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bewerbung" and "Bewerbungen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bewerbung vs Bewirtung". 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 #1,952,473 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