Which to use
“beherrscht” and “beherrschte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,443
- “beherrscht” frequency rank
- #20,520
- “beherrschte” frequency rank
- 27963
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | beherrscht | beherrschte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich in der Gewalt haben, seine Gefühle / Emotionen unter Kontrolle haben, kontrolliert sein | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs beherrscht |
Where the eye mixes beherrscht and beherrschte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. beherrscht runs 10 letters (CVCVCCCCCC) against beherrschte's 11 (CVCVCCCCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: beherrscht vs beherrschte
A purely visual mix-up. beherrscht ([bəˈhɛʁʃt]) and beherrschte ([bəˈhɛʁʃtə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “beherrscht” sits inside “beherrschte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27963, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
beherrscht is recorded at frequency rank #7,443, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈhɛʁʃt]. beherrschte is at rank #20,520, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈhɛʁʃtə].
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 27963, this pair ranks #1,792,898 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of beherrscht vs beherrschte
Shared letters: bcehrst. Private to "beherrscht": -. Private to "beherrschte": -.
"beherrscht" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCCCCC · "beherrschte" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCCCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- beherrscht ← bbeherrscht · beehrrscht · beherrcsht · beherrsccht · beherrschht · beherrschtt · beherrscth · beherrshct
- beherrschte ← bbeherrschte · beehrrschte · beherrcshte · beherrscchte · beherrschet · beherrschhte · beherrschtte · beherrscthe
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "beherrscht" for "beherrschte" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "beherrscht" or "beherrschte" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "beherrscht" and "beherrschte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "beherrscht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "beherrschte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,792,898 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "beherrscht" and "beherrschte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beherrsche vs beherrschte". 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 #1,792,898 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.