befreien
[bəˈfʁaɪ̯ən]
The verdict
“befreien” is a regularly-used German word, ranked #4,767 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #4,767
- frequency rank, German
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 14
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - aus einer Zwangslage entkommen
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 | befreien |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [bəˈfʁaɪ̯ən] |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #4,767 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 14 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “befreien” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for befreien is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [bəˈfʁaɪ̯ən]. Corpus data places it at rank #4,767 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for befreien, with forms such as "bbefreien", "beferien", and "beffreien". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 14 confusable-pair relationships, "befreit", "bereuen", "bereden", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is befreien, spelled B-E-F-R-E-I-E-N.
Definition
- 1aus einer Zwangslage entkommen
- 2jemands Zwangslage beenden
- 3etwas Störendes überwinden; von etwas Störendem loskommen
- 4etwas Störendes von etwas entfernen
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbefreien,beferien,beffreien,befreein,befreienn,befreine,befrieen,befrreien,berfeien,bfereien,ebfreien
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of befreien - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "befreien"?
What does "befreien" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "befreien"?
How do you pronounce "befreien"?
What language does "befreien" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “befreien”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is B-E-F-R-E-I-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [bəˈfʁaɪ̯ən] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “befreit” - see the side-by-side comparison. befreien vs befreit
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.