Which to use
“Bekannte” is a noun and “bekanntes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,838
- “Bekannte” frequency rank
- #15,574
- “bekanntes” frequency rank
- 17412
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Bekannte | bekanntes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | eine weibliche Person, die jemand kennt und die ihn kennt, ohne dass beide befreundet sind | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bekannt |
Where the eye mixes Bekannte and bekanntes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Bekannte with bekanntes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bekannte is [bəˈkantə] while bekanntes is [bəˈkantəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Bekannte” sits inside “bekanntes”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17412, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Bekannte is recorded at frequency rank #1,838, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈkantə]. bekanntes is at rank #15,574, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈkantəs].
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 17412, this pair ranks #1,927,621 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Bekannte vs bekanntes
Shared letters: abeknt. Private to "Bekannte": -. Private to "bekanntes": s.
"Bekannte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV · "bekanntes" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Bekannte" for "bekanntes" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Bekannte" or "bekanntes" show up more?
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 "Bekannte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bekanntes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,927,621 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Bekannte" and "bekanntes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bekannte 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 #1,927,621 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.