beendenvsbeendetWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: beenden is a verb, beendet is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“beenden” is a verb and “beendet” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,358
“beenden” frequency rank
#2,191
“beendet” frequency rank
5549
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beenden beendet
Definition mit etwas aufhören, etwas zum Abschluss bringen, eine Tätigkeit einstellen zum Ende/Abschluss gebracht/geführt; abgeschlossen, vollendet

Where the eye mixes beenden and beendet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. beenden and beendet follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
beenden
7 ch
beendet

Why the eye confuses beenden with beendet

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: beenden is [bəˈʔɛndn̩] while beendet is [bəˈʔɛndət]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “beenden” becomes t in “beendet”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5549, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beenden is recorded at frequency rank #3,358, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʔɛndn̩]. beendet is at rank #2,191, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʔɛndət].

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 5549, this pair ranks #1,994,437 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beenden vs beendet

Shared letters: bden. Private to "beenden": -. Private to "beendet": t.

"beenden" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "beendet" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beenden ← bbeenden · beednen · beendden · beendenn · beendne · beenedn · beennden · benden
  • beendet ← bbeendet · beednet · beenddet · beendett · beendte · beenedt · beenndet · bendet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "beenden" for "beendet" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "beenden" is a verb and "beendet" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "beenden" or "beendet" show up more?
"beendet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,191 in our German list, against #3,358 for "beenden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "beenden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beendet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,994,437 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beenden" and "beendet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beenden vs bereden". 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 #1,994,437 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list