begrenztvsbegrenztemWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“begrenzt” and “begrenztem” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,871
“begrenzt” frequency rank
#47,987
“begrenztem” frequency rank
51858
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature begrenzt begrenztem
Definition nicht grenzenlos groß oder umfassend, sondern auf ein gewisses Maß beschränkt Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs begrenzt

Where the eye mixes begrenzt and begrenztem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. begrenzt runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCC) against begrenztem's 10 (CVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
begrenzt
10 ch
begrenztem

Why the eye confuses begrenzt with begrenztem

A purely visual mix-up. begrenzt ([bəˈɡʁɛnt͡st]) and begrenztem ([bəˈɡʁɛnt͡stəm]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “begrenzt” sits inside “begrenztem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51858, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

begrenzt is recorded at frequency rank #3,871, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈɡʁɛnt͡st]. begrenztem is at rank #47,987, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈɡʁɛnt͡stəm].

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 51858, this pair ranks #1,119,293 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of begrenzt vs begrenztem

Shared letters: begnrtz. Private to "begrenzt": -. Private to "begrenztem": m.

"begrenzt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC  ·  "begrenztem" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • begrenztbbegrenzt · begernzt · beggrenzt · begrennzt · begrentz · begrenztt · begrenzzt · begreznt
  • begrenztembbegrenztem · begernztem · beggrenztem · begrennztem · begrentzem · begrenzetm · begrenztemm · begrenztme

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "begrenzt" and "begrenztem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈɡʁɛnt͡st] versus [bəˈɡʁɛnt͡stəm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "begrenzt" vs "begrenztem" - which ranks higher?
"begrenzt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,871 in our German list, against #47,987 for "begrenztem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "begrenzt" and "begrenztem" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "begrenzt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "begrenztem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,119,293 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "begrenzt" and "begrenztem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begrenztem vs begrenztes". 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 #1,119,293 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