Which to use
“bekannt” is an adjective and “Bekannter” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #463
- “bekannt” frequency rank
- #4,961
- “Bekannter” frequency rank
- 5424
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bekannt | Bekannter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | von vielen gekannt, im Allgemeinwissen vorhanden | Person männlichen oder unbestimmten Geschlechts, die jemand kennt und die ihn kennt, ohne dass beide befreundet sind |
Where the eye mixes bekannt and Bekannter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. bekannt runs 7 letters (CVCVCCC) against Bekannter's 9 (CVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses bekannt with Bekannter
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bekannt is [bəˈkant] while Bekannter is [bəˈkantɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “bekannt” sits inside “Bekannter”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bekannt is recorded at frequency rank #463, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈkant]. Bekannter is at rank #4,961, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəˈkantɐ].
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 5424, this pair ranks #1,994,794 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bekannt vs Bekannter
Shared letters: abeknt. Private to "bekannt": -. Private to "Bekannter": r.
"bekannt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC · "Bekannter" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bekannt" and "Bekannter" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "bekannt" or "Bekannter"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "bekannt" and "Bekannter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bekannt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Bekannter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,994,794 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bekannt" and "Bekannter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bekannt vs bekenne". 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 #1,994,794 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.