borgenvsBorneoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: borgen is a verb, Borneo is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“borgen” is a verb and “Borneo” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,534
“borgen” frequency rank
#48,020
“Borneo” frequency rank
94554
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature borgen Borneo
Definition leihen, verleihen, etwas gegen Versprechen hergeben, jemandem vorübergehend etwas geben südostasiatische Insel (Teil der Großen Sundainseln), an der drei Staaten Anteil haben: Brunei, Indonesien und Malaysia

Where the eye mixes borgen and Borneo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
borgen
6 ch
Borneo

Look-alike desk: borgen vs Borneo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: borgen is [ˈbɔʁɡn̩] while Borneo is [ˈbɔʁneo]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 94554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

borgen is recorded at frequency rank #46,534, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbɔʁɡn̩]. Borneo is at rank #48,020, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈbɔʁneo].

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 94554, this pair ranks #16,152 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of borgen vs Borneo

Shared letters: benor. Private to "borgen": g. Private to "Borneo": -.

"borgen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Borneo" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • borgenbborgen · bogren · boregn · borgenn · borggen · borgne · borrgen · brogen
  • Borneobborneo · bonreo · boreno · bornneo · bornoe · borrneo · broneo · obrneo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "borgen" and "Borneo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "borgen" is a verb and "Borneo" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "borgen" or "Borneo" show up more?
"borgen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46,534 in our German list, against #48,020 for "Borneo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "borgen" and "Borneo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "borgen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Borneo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,152 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "borgen" and "Borneo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bonne vs Borneo". 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 #16,152 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