bewohnenvsbeworfenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#31,966
“bewohnen” frequency rank
#27,220
“beworfen” frequency rank
59186
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bewohnen beworfen
Definition in einem Gebäude wohnen, etwas als Wohnraum nutzen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bewerfen

Where the eye mixes bewohnen and beworfen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. bewohnen and beworfen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
bewohnen
8 ch
beworfen

Look-alike desk: bewohnen vs beworfen

A purely visual mix-up. bewohnen ([bəˈvoːnən]) and beworfen ([bəˈvɔʁfn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59186, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bewohnen is recorded at frequency rank #31,966, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈvoːnən]. beworfen is at rank #27,220, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈvɔʁfn̩].

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 59186, this pair ranks #834,010 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bewohnen vs beworfen

Shared letters: benow. Private to "bewohnen": h. Private to "beworfen": fr.

"bewohnen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "beworfen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bewohnenbbewohnen · beowhnen · bewhonen · bewohenn · bewohhnen · bewohnenn · bewohnne · bewohnnen
  • beworfenbbeworfen · beowrfen · bewofren · beworefn · beworfenn · beworffen · beworfne · beworrfen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bewohnen" for "beworfen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈvoːnən] versus [bəˈvɔʁfn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bewohnen" vs "beworfen" - which ranks higher?
"beworfen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,220 in our German list, against #31,966 for "bewohnen". 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 "bewohnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beworfen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #834,010 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bewohnen" and "beworfen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beiwohnen vs bewohnen". 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 #834,010 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