bemühtevsbemühtenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,250
“bemühte” frequency rank
#31,958
“bemühten” frequency rank
46208
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bemühte bemühten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bemüht Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bemüht

Where the eye mixes bemühte and bemühten

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

7 ch
bemühte
8 ch
bemühten

Why the eye confuses bemühte with bemühten

A purely visual mix-up. bemühte ([bəˈmyːtə]) and bemühten ([bəˈmyːtn̩]) 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 extra letter(s) - “bemühte” sits inside “bemühten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46208, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bemühte is recorded at frequency rank #14,250, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈmyːtə]. bemühten is at rank #31,958, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈmyːtn̩].

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 46208, this pair ranks #1,326,884 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bemühte vs bemühten

Shared letters: behmtü. Private to "bemühte": -. Private to "bemühten": n.

"bemühte" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "bemühten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bemühte" and "bemühten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈmyːtə] versus [bəˈmyːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "bemühte" or "bemühten" show up more?
"bemühte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,250 in our German list, against #31,958 for "bemühten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bemühte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bemühten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,326,884 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bemühte" and "bemühten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bemühten vs berührten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,326,884 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