bemühtenvsbesuchtenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,958
“bemühten” frequency rank
#9,159
“besuchten” frequency rank
41117
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bemühten besuchten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bemüht Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs besucht

Where the eye mixes bemühten and besuchten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
bemühten
9 ch
besuchten

Visual trap between bemühten and besuchten

A purely visual mix-up. bemühten ([bəˈmyːtn̩]) and besuchten ([bəˈzuːxtn̩]) 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 41117, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bemühten is recorded at frequency rank #31,958, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈmyːtn̩]. besuchten is at rank #9,159, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈzuːxtn̩].

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 41117, this pair ranks #1,488,834 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bemühten vs besuchten

Shared letters: behnt. Private to "bemühten": . Private to "besuchten": csu.

"bemühten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "besuchten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • besuchtenbbesuchten · bescuhten · bessuchten · besucchten · besuchetn · besuchhten · besuchtenn · besuchtne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bemühten" for "besuchten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈmyːtn̩] versus [bəˈzuːxtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "bemühten" or "besuchten" show up more?
"besuchten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,159 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.

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 "bemühten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "besuchten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,488,834 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bemühten" and "besuchten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bemühten vs berührten". 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 #1,488,834 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