beschaffen
[bəˈʃafn̩]
The verdict
“beschaffen” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #11,188 in German word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #11,188
- frequency rank, German
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - mit den dabei genannten Eigenschaften, in einem zu benennenden Zustand sein
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 | beschaffen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [bəˈʃafn̩] |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #11,188 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “beschaffen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for beschaffen is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [bəˈʃafn̩]. Corpus data places it at rank #11,188 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "mit den dabei genannten Eigenschaften, in einem zu benennenden Zustand sein".
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for beschaffen, with forms such as "bbeschaffen", "becshaffen", and "bescahffen". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "beschafft", "Beschaffung", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is beschaffen, spelled B-E-S-C-H-A-F-F-E-N.
Definition
- 1mit den dabei genannten Eigenschaften, in einem zu benennenden Zustand sein
Synonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbeschaffen,becshaffen,bescahffen,bescchaffen,beschafefn,beschafen,beschaffenn,beschaffne,beschfafen,beschhaffen,beshcaffen,besschaffen,bsechaffen,ebschaffen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of beschaffen - 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 "beschaffen"?
What does "beschaffen" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "beschaffen"?
How do you pronounce "beschaffen"?
What language does "beschaffen" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “beschaffen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is B-E-S-C-H-A-F-F-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [bəˈʃafn̩] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “beschafft” - see the side-by-side comparison. beschaffen vs beschafft
- 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.