BekanntenvsbranntenConfusable pair

Quick tell: Bekannten is a noun, brannten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Bekannten” is a noun and “brannten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,584
“Bekannten” frequency rank
#23,066
“brannten” frequency rank
24650
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bekannten brannten
Definition Genitiv Singular der starken Flexion des Substantivs Bekannter 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum des Verbs brennen

Where the eye mixes Bekannten and brannten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Bekannten runs 9 letters (CVCVCCCVC) against brannten's 8 (CCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
Bekannten
8 ch
brannten

Look-alike desk: Bekannten vs brannten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bekannten is [bəˈkantn̩] while brannten is [ˈbʁantn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24650, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bekannten is recorded at frequency rank #1,584, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈkantn̩]. brannten is at rank #23,066, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbʁantn̩].

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 24650, this pair ranks #1,844,636 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bekannten vs brannten

Shared letters: abent. Private to "Bekannten": k. Private to "brannten": r.

"Bekannten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "brannten" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bekanntenbbekannten · beaknnten · bekannetn · bekanntenn · bekanntne · bekanntten · bekanten · bekantnen
  • branntenbarnnten · bbrannten · brannetn · branntenn · branntne · branntten · branten · brantnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Bekannten" for "brannten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Bekannten" is a noun and "brannten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Bekannten" vs "brannten" - which ranks higher?
"Bekannten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,584 in our German list, against #23,066 for "brannten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bekannten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brannten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,844,636 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bekannten" and "brannten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bannen vs brannten". 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 #1,844,636 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