Which to use
“behielten” is a verb and “besiegten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,634
- “behielten” frequency rank
- #24,266
- “besiegten” frequency rank
- 48900
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | behielten | besiegten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs behalten | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs besiegt |
Where the eye mixes behielten and besiegten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses behielten with besiegten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: behielten is [bəˈhiːltn̩] while besiegten is [bəˈziːktn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48900, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
behielten is recorded at frequency rank #24,634, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈhiːltn̩]. besiegten is at rank #24,266, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈziːktn̩].
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 48900, this pair ranks #1,231,407 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of behielten vs besiegten
Shared letters: beint. Private to "behielten": hl. Private to "besiegten": gs.
"behielten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC · "besiegten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "behielten" and "besiegten" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "behielten" or "besiegten"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "behielten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "besiegten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,231,407 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "behielten" and "besiegten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bedienten vs behielten". 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 #1,231,407 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.