beleuchtenvsbeleuchtetTell them apart

Quick tell: beleuchten is a verb, beleuchtet is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“beleuchten” is a verb and “beleuchtet” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,928
“beleuchten” frequency rank
#9,335
“beleuchtet” frequency rank
26263
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beleuchten beleuchtet
Definition etwas mit Licht anstrahlen mit Licht versehen

Where the eye mixes beleuchten and beleuchtet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. beleuchten and beleuchtet follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
beleuchten
10 ch
beleuchtet

Look-alike desk: beleuchten vs beleuchtet

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: beleuchten is [bəˈlɔɪ̯çtn̩] while beleuchtet is [bəˈlɔɪ̯çtət]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “beleuchten” becomes t in “beleuchtet”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26263, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beleuchten is recorded at frequency rank #16,928, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈlɔɪ̯çtn̩]. beleuchtet is at rank #9,335, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈlɔɪ̯çtət].

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 26263, this pair ranks #1,820,738 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beleuchten vs beleuchtet

Shared letters: bcehltu. Private to "beleuchten": n. Private to "beleuchtet": -.

"beleuchten" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCCVC  ·  "beleuchtet" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beleuchten ← bbeleuchten · beeluchten · belecuhten · beleucchten · beleuchetn · beleuchhten · beleuchtenn · beleuchtne
  • beleuchtet ← bbeleuchtet · beeluchtet · belecuhtet · beleucchtet · beleuchett · beleuchhtet · beleuchtett · beleuchtte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "beleuchten" and "beleuchtet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "beleuchten" is a verb and "beleuchtet" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "beleuchten" or "beleuchtet"?
"beleuchtet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,335 in our German list, against #16,928 for "beleuchten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "beleuchten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beleuchtet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,820,738 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beleuchten" and "beleuchtet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beleuchten vs beleuchteten". 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 #1,820,738 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