Which to use
“befürchten” is a verb and “besuchten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,013
- “befürchten” frequency rank
- #9,159
- “besuchten” frequency rank
- 16172
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | befürchten | besuchten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Ansicht sein, dass etwas Unangenehmes eintreten oder geschehen könnte | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs besucht |
Where the eye mixes befürchten and besuchten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. befürchten runs 10 letters (CVCVCCCCVC) against besuchten's 9 (CVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses befürchten with besuchten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: befürchten is [bəˈfʏʁçtn̩] while besuchten is [bəˈzuːxtn̩]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16172, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
befürchten is recorded at frequency rank #7,013, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈfʏʁçtn̩]. besuchten is at rank #9,159, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈzuːxtn̩].
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 16172, this pair ranks #1,937,980 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of befürchten vs besuchten
Shared letters: bcehnt. Private to "befürchten": frü. Private to "besuchten": su.
"befürchten" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCCCVC · "besuchten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- besuchten ← bbesuchten · bescuhten · bessuchten · besucchten · besuchetn · besuchhten · besuchtenn · besuchtne
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "befürchten" and "besuchten" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "befürchten" or "besuchten" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "befürchten" and "besuchten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "befürchten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "besuchten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,937,980 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "befürchten" and "besuchten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beichten vs besuchten". 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 #1,937,980 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.