berechtigtvsbesichtigtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: berechtigt is a adjective, besichtigt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#4,410
“berechtigt” frequency rank
#16,934
“besichtigt” frequency rank
21344
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature berechtigt besichtigt
Definition zu Recht bestehend, einen guten Grund habend 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs besichtigen

Where the eye mixes berechtigt and besichtigt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. berechtigt and besichtigt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
berechtigt
10 ch
besichtigt

Look-alike desk: berechtigt vs besichtigt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: berechtigt is [bəˈʁɛçtɪçt] while besichtigt is [bəˈzɪçtɪçt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21344, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

berechtigt is recorded at frequency rank #4,410, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʁɛçtɪçt]. besichtigt is at rank #16,934, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈzɪçtɪçt].

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 21344, this pair ranks #1,887,386 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of berechtigt vs besichtigt

Shared letters: bceghit. Private to "berechtigt": r. Private to "besichtigt": s.

"berechtigt" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCCVCC  ·  "besichtigt" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • berechtigtbberechtigt · beerchtigt · bercehtigt · berecchtigt · berechhtigt · berechitgt · berechtgit · berechtiggt
  • besichtigtbbesichtigt · beischtigt · bescihtigt · besicchtigt · besichhtigt · besichitgt · besichtgit · besichtiggt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "berechtigt" for "besichtigt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "berechtigt" is an adjective and "besichtigt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "berechtigt" or "besichtigt"?
"berechtigt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,410 in our German list, against #16,934 for "besichtigt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "berechtigt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "besichtigt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,887,386 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "berechtigt" and "besichtigt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "berichtigt vs besichtigt". 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 #1,887,386 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