belegtenvsbesiegtenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“belegten” and “besiegten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,557
“belegten” frequency rank
#24,266
“besiegten” frequency rank
37823
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature belegten besiegten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs belegt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs besiegt

Where the eye mixes belegten and besiegten

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

8 ch
belegten
9 ch
besiegten

Look-alike desk: belegten vs besiegten

A purely visual mix-up. belegten ([bəˈleːktn̩]) and besiegten ([bəˈziːktn̩]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37823, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

belegten is recorded at frequency rank #13,557, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈleːktn̩]. 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 37823, this pair ranks #1,580,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of belegten vs besiegten

Shared letters: begnt. Private to "belegten": l. Private to "besiegten": is.

"belegten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "besiegten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • belegtenbbelegten · beelgten · belegetn · beleggten · belegtenn · belegtne · belegtten · beletgen
  • besiegtenbbesiegten · beisegten · beseigten · besiegetn · besieggten · besiegtenn · besiegtne · besiegtten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "belegten" for "besiegten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈleːktn̩] versus [bəˈziːktn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "belegten" vs "besiegten" - which ranks higher?
"belegten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,557 in our German list, against #24,266 for "besiegten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "belegten" 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 #1,580,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "belegten" and "besiegten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bedienten vs besiegten". 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 #1,580,154 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