begannen
[bəˈɡanən]
The verdict
“begannen” is a regularly-used German word, ranked #5,804 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #5,804
- frequency rank, German
- 8
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs beginnen
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 | begannen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [bəˈɡanən] |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #5,804 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “begannen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for begannen is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [bəˈɡanən]. Corpus data places it at rank #5,804 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for begannen, with forms such as "bbegannen", "beagnnen", and "beganen". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "beginne", "beginnen", "begonnen", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is begannen, spelled B-E-G-A-N-N-E-N.
Definition
- 11. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs beginnen
- 23. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs beginnen
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbegannen,beagnnen,beganen,beganenn,begannenn,begannne,beggannen,begnanen,bgeannen,ebgannen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of begannen - 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 "begannen"?
What does "begannen" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "begannen"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “begannen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is B-E-G-A-N-N-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [bəˈɡanən] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “beginne” - see the side-by-side comparison. begannen vs beginne
- 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.