Which to use
“been” is a noun and “begin” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,526
- “been” frequency rank
- #31,255
- “begin” frequency rank
- 45781
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | been | begin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | perna | começar |
Where the eye mixes been and begin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between been and begin
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: been is /ˈbeːn/ while begin is /bɪˈgɪn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45781, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
been is recorded at frequency rank #14,526, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbeːn/. begin is at rank #31,255, tagged as averb, pronounced /bɪˈgɪn/.
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 45781, this pair ranks #19,615 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of been vs begin
Shared letters: ben. Private to "been": -. Private to "begin": gi.
"been" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "begin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "been" for "begin" ever safe?
Which is more common, "been" or "begin"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "been" and "begin" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "been" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "begin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,615 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "been" and "begin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begin vs bergen". 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 #19,615 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.