bewirkenvsbewirkteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#7,731
“bewirken” frequency rank
#32,957
“bewirkte” frequency rank
40688
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bewirken bewirkte
Definition eine Wirkung herbeiführen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs bewirkt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bewirken and bewirkte apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
bewirken
8 ch
bewirkte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bewirken is [bəˈvɪʁkn̩] while bewirkte is [bəˈvɪʁktə]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40688, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bewirken is recorded at frequency rank #7,731, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈvɪʁkn̩]. bewirkte is at rank #32,957, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈvɪʁktə].

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 40688, this pair ranks #1,501,286 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bewirken vs bewirkte

Shared letters: beikrw. Private to "bewirken": n. Private to "bewirkte": t.

"bewirken" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "bewirkte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bewirkenbbewirken · beiwrken · bewikren · bewirekn · bewirkenn · bewirkken · bewirkne · bewirrken
  • bewirktebbewirkte · beiwrkte · bewikrte · bewirket · bewirkkte · bewirktte · bewirrkte · bewirtke

Frequency comparison

bewirken#7,731
bewirkte#32,957

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bewirken" and "bewirkte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bewirken" is a verb and "bewirkte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bewirken" or "bewirkte"?
"bewirken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,731 in our German list, against #32,957 for "bewirkte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bewirken vs bewirkte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “bewirken”; for an adjective, it's “bewirkte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bewirken” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list