befähigen
[bəˈfɛːɪɡn̩]
The verdict
“befähigen” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #44,474 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #44,474
- frequency rank, German
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) — jemanden in die Lage versetzen, etwas zu tun
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | befähigen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [bəˈfɛːɪɡn̩] |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #44,474 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “befähigen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for befähigen is 9 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [bəˈfɛːɪɡn̩]. Corpus data places it at rank #44,474 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "jemanden in die Lage versetzen, etwas zu tun".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for befähigen, with forms such as "bbefähigen", "beffähigen", and "befhäigen". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "befahren", "befähigt", "befangen", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is befähigen, spelled B-E-F-Ä-H-I-G-E-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1jemanden in die Lage versetzen, etwas zu tun
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbefähigen,beffähigen,befhäigen,befähgien,befähhigen,befähiegn,befähigenn,befähiggen,befähigne,befäihgen,beäfhigen,bfeähigen,ebfähigen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of befähigen - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Edit distance from "befähigen"
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Cite this page
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “befähigen, German word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/de/wort/befahigen
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "befähigen"?
What does "befähigen" mean?
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Using “befähigen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is B-E-F-Ä-H-I-G-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [bəˈfɛːɪɡn̩] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “befahren” - see the side-by-side comparison. befähigen vs befahren
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Nearby German words
Other entries that begin with the letter B in our German index: